


The Year of Spies and Lies

by Tay_Quin



Series: Harry’s Slytherin Sister [5]
Category: Emma Evans: The Slytherin Sister - Taylor Quinlan, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Astronomy, Betrayal, Charms, Dark Mark, Death Eater - Freeform, Divination, F/F, F/M, Forbidden Forest, Gryffindor, Harry Potter - Freeform, Harry has a sister, Heir, Herbology, Hogwarts, Horcruxes, Hufflepuff, Legilimency, M/M, Magic, Magical Creatures, Ministry, Occlumency, Parseltongue, Potions, Prophecies, Quidditch, Ravenclaw, Secrets, Seeker, Slytherin, Slytherin sister, Snakes, Transfiguration, Wands, broomstick
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:09:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 55,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26520424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tay_Quin/pseuds/Tay_Quin
Summary: Okay, so as you may be aware, school has started back up for the year. So, here’s the plan:You will get one chapter every Wednesday and Saturday. I will do my very best to keep up with it, but if I miss one, please, please, please, comment and remind me! Chances are that the chapter has already been written and is just waiting to be posted. With that schedule, all of the book will take 12 weeks to post. That puts us at ending on December 5th. I will re-evaluate the schedule for book six then.Enjoy!
Relationships: Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald, Andromeda Black Tonks/Ted Tonks, Angelina Johnson/George Weasley, Arthur Weasley/Molly Weasley, Cho Chang/Marietta Edgecombe, Colin Creevey/Luna Lovegood, Dennis Creevey/Original Female Character(s), Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s), Ginny Weasley/Tracey Davis, Harry Potter/Daphne Greengrass, Hermione Granger/Fred Weasley, Lily Evans Potter/James Potter, Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa, Neville Longbottom/Astoria Greengrass, Nymphadora Tonks/Original Male Character(s), Pansy Parkinson/Blaise Zabini, Ron Weasley/Lavender Brown, Seamus Finnigan/Dean Thomas, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Theodore Nott/Original Male Character(s)
Series: Harry’s Slytherin Sister [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1696795
Comments: 25
Kudos: 85





	1. New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so as you may be aware, school has started back up for the year. So, here’s the plan:  
> You will get one chapter every Wednesday and Saturday. I will do my very best to keep up with it, but if I miss one, please, please, please, comment and remind me! Chances are that the chapter has already been written and is just waiting to be posted. With that schedule, all of the book will take 12 weeks to post. That puts us at ending on December 5th. I will re-evaluate the schedule for book six then.  
> Enjoy!

The Heir to Slytherin. I was the fucking Heir to Slytherin. And Salazar had chosen me. I wasn’t sure how to feel. One prophecy painted me as a hero, the other painted me the villain. I listened to each of them again. So according to the one, I would become a death eater and kill my brother. But according to the other, I would stop the “greatest horror” which could only need Voldemort. So what? I would turn on Harry and kill him, to defeat Voldemort? Impossible. 

I needed to talk to Salazar. 

“There you are.” Said Draco. Then he saw the prophecies. “Anything interesting?”

I shrugged, “I’m not sure yet. But apparently Salazar has made me his heir.”

“He did what?” Draco asked, rather loudly.

“I don’t know, it said that the heir of Slytherin was chosen by Salazar himself and the prophecy lit up for me, so I guess he did it, right?”

“Well, we ought to go talk to him, don’t we?” Draco asked.

I thought for a moment, “I think, not.”

“Not?”

“I mean the prophecy really says it all. He chose me because I am the girl with red hair, who found him. ‘The finder of something long since thought gone.’ It’s the reason he wouldn’t die, he needed to stay until he found the one the prophecy spoke up, until he found me. Plus, we haven’t got the time, we have a train to catch.”

“If you’re sure,” Draco said uncertainly.

“I am. Let’s go.” I stood and dropped the prophecies into my pocket.

***

Draco was going to be the death of me. He was going back to the Malfoy Manor for the summer, despite knowing that that was where Voldemort had based his operations.

“I can be like a sort of spy.” He said.

I wasn’t having it. “Draco, this is stupid. The last time you saw your father you were dueling with him, how do you think he’s going to react when he sees you? And you were fighting with the Order, against Voldemort, he’ll kill you, if he doesn’t torture you first.”

“Emma, it’ll be okay.” He said.

“Stay with me.” I pleaded.

“I can’t, you know I can’t.”

“Why not?” 

“Your brother hates me.”

“Harry doesn’t hate you!”

“Woah, Harry’s your brother? As in Harry Potter?” Asked Sophie Roper, she had been walking by us. Apparently we had been talking a tad too loudly. Wait, how the fuck was she able to hear us though? We weren’t secret keepers.

“Uh, yeah, but Sophie, you can’t tell anyone, okay?” I said.

She nodded, “I’m good at keeping secrets.”

“Thanks.” I said, relieved. “Well, have a good summer.”

And with that, she was gone. The moment she had vanished, I turned to Draco, eyes wide. ‘She shouldn’t have been able to hear us.’ I said into Draco’s mind, not wanting to risk anyone else hearing us.

‘What if, when Sirius was dying during the battle, he was actually dead for a moment, I mean his heart stopped, so what if the fidelius charm moved on to everyone who knew?’

‘If that’s the case, then we have a very big problem. Pettigrew knew the secret.’

‘Shit, Em. Sirius is alive though, so maybe he won’t realize that he can share it.’

‘The death eaters don’t know that he’s alive, they’ll expect Peter to be able to tell them.’

‘You have to tell the Order that Sirius isn’t the secret keeper anymore.’

‘I will.’

There was Narcissa, waiting for her son. Lucius was nowhere to be seen, no surprise there. I hugged Draco. “Goodbye. I’ll miss you. And don’t forget to write, okay?”

“I won’t forget,” He promised, “And I’ll miss you too. Goodbye, Emma.”

***

Once again, Hermione would be staying at Grimmauld Place, as would the Weasley’s. It would be strange without Draco there, but his mind was made up on the subject. And he was gone now anyway.

We made it home with no issues, but as I was unpacking my trunk, I realized that I had a problem. I had hardly any muggle clothes. I couldn’t go walking down the streets in my robes, which meant that I needed to go shopping. As it would turn out, Hermione and Ginny were faced with the same issue.

So, with some muggle money in tow, we set off for the shops. It took several hours of staring at things to try and determine whether or not they matched one another and eventually trying things on. 

We returned home, weighed down by dozens of heavy bags. Sirius and Remus were in the kitchen. Remus was sitting at the table and Sirius was leaning against the counter, gently rocking a sleeping Teddy back and forth.

Remus did a double take when he saw all of our bags. “Yeah, we may have gone a bit overboard.” I said sheepishly.

“You think?” Sirius laughed. “Better get all of that put away, Order meeting is in...” he checked his watch, “Twenty minutes.”

***

“We have a problem.” I said to the Order. “When Sirius’s heart stopped, he ceased to be the secret keeper. The Fidelius charm moved on to everyone who already knew. I accidentally told Sophie Roper at King’s Cross Station.”

“So, we all just have to be careful.” Kingsley said.

“No, that’s not all. When Dumbledore gave the Weasleys a slip of paper that Sirius had written the secret on, Peter Pettigrew saw it. He knows. And now he’s a secret keeper all over again. And we know how well that turned out the last time.”

Sirius cursed under his breath.

Dumbledore turned to Sirius, “I didn’t think you had died, did you cross over?”

“Yes.” Sirius said. 

“And?” Dumbledore prompted.

“James, Lily, Taleus and Tonks were there, waiting for me.” Sirius said.

Everyone froze. 

“Did you speak with them?” Asked Snape.

“Briefly.” Sirius replied. “They gave me some messages for specific people and then I was back in the Ministry. Tonks and Taleus had one for Teddy, for when he’s older, Lily and James had one for Emma, Harry and Remus.”

“And how did they look?” I asked.

“They looked... they looked like proud parents.” Sirius said. “It seemed as though they had aged in death, they certainly weren’t twenty anymore. I think they aged normally, so they’d have been thirty-six.”

***

After the meeting ended, Sirius gave each of us the brief messages that had been left by mum and dad.

I headed up to my room with the intention of having a nice long shower, only to find Tully pecking at my window, a letter in his claws. 

I was quick to cross the room and open the window.

Dear Emma,  
I’m okay. I made it home with mum. Dad’s a little angry, but it’s fine. He’ll get over it eventually.   
Voldemort is here, as are the majority of the death eaters. Voldemort has decided that he wants me to attend all of the meetings. I’ve been to two of them thus far. He’s literally crazy, Em. He’s obsessed with Harry and spent nearly half of the meeting talking about him. He wants Dumbledore out of the way so he can kill Harry. He’s plotting to murder Dumbledore. He’s been obsessing over you too. He asked the death eaters for all information they have regarding you. Of course my father began to spill everything he knew. Snape looked about ready to murder him. I’ll list everything father said.  
You’re name is Emma Evans. You’re a Slytherin in my year. You are top of the class, the seeker on our house Quidditch team and friends with me.   
After he said that you were my friend, Voldemort started asking me questions about you. Don’t worry, I didn’t tell him anything of real use. I just said that you were my friend and we went to the Quidditch World Cup together. Mum didn’t rat you out either.  
Speaking of rats, I’m shocked. Peter didn’t say anything about you or your secret. In fact, he didn’t tell them that you’re an animagus either. He neglected to share anything about you, he pretended he didn’t even know you were.   
But I really think Voldemort is afraid of you. That which he fears, he seeks to destroy, so you’d better be careful. Don’t go anywhere alone if you can help it. And always, always bring your wand with you.  
I’ll be sure to keep you updated on any developing plots to kill you, Dumbledore and Harry.  
Miss you and hope you’re doing alright,  
Draco.

I read through the letter three more times before I fully comprehended it. Draco was right in the thick of things. And I didn’t like it. Not one bit. At least Snape could look out for him. But Snape was only there some of the time. I needed to remember that Draco was a good wizard, powerful and smart, he could take care of himself.

Dear Draco,

Be careful. Any sign that they’re onto you, get out of there. Come here and we’ll hide you from them. You’re always welcome here. 

Teddy is a sweetheart, you’ll love him. At least, I think you will, do you like children? How about babies? I think he’s the cutest baby I have ever seen, but what do I know? Things have been woefully uneventful here. I went shopping in the muggle world with Hermione and Ginny, we needed passable muggle clothes. I know, I know, not one of my finer moments. But I promise I won’t go out again without an of age wizard present.

The world has really gone to shit now, hasn’t it? Has our pale Voldy dropped any hints as to what his other horcruxes could be? Get it? Pal, pale? Because he’s really pale. I can’t believe I just wrote that. Please ignore. Any chance of you killing the snake? I don’t think he meant to make Harry into one, and I don’t think he would be trying to kill him if he knew. So I think there are seven horcruxes and then there’s him. I’m pleased to inform you that Dumbledore got the ring. I don’t think I ever told you, sorry about that. But it’s gone, so that’s three down. That leaves us with Voldemort, Harry, Nagini and two mystery vessels. Maybe you can get some hints, take care with everything Voldemort says. Dissect his words, anything that could be a possibility, tell me. We’ll take him down.

I miss you. Stay safe.

Best of luck,  
Emma

I hoped he would write back soon with something of use. It killed me to not know what those last two objects were.

I headed downstairs for a midnight snack... or rather a three in the morning snack. I settled on strawberries and slid up onto the counter, cross legged, the bowl of strawberries in my lap. I was just about finished with my bowl when Hermione came down the stairs, Teddy bundled up in her arms.

“Hey,” She said, opening the fridge with her free arm.

“Hey,” I replied, “Who put you on baby duty?”

“I just thought that Sirius and Remus could use the help. I mean they weren’t prepared to be parents and they’ve taken it on quite well, but they have to do all of the learning and the shopping while they are already taking care of the baby and hosting Order meetings weekly. It’s a lot for anyone to handle and I mean they’ve taken me in too. And you and Harry of course. And Molly wants to help out with everything, but she needs to sleep too.” Hermione said as she pulled out one of his bottles.

“I can take him.” I offered. “I am his Godmother after all.”

“No, no, it’s alright, I’ve got him. He reminds me of my little cousins.”

“You have cousins?”

“Four of them, they’re five, three, two and four months old.” She answered. 

“Aw, when did you last see them?” I asked.

She thought for a moment and then her face morphed into one of confusion, followed by one of dawning realization. “My God, I haven’t seen them since the summer before third year. Haley’s eight now! And little baby Landon is three!”

“Do you think any of them could be witches or wizards?” I asked. 

She shrugged, “I have no idea where in my family someone with magic married in, so I have no way of knowing.”

“it’s nice you’ve got family though, cousins and stuff. Aunts and uncles, grandparents and stuff. I guess I’ve got Aunt Petunia and Dudley, but I’m not sure if they really count since I doubt that I’ll ever see them again.”

“But hey, your family’s growing,” Hermione said, gesturing to Teddy. “And I think that we’re your family. Sirius and Remus. The Weasleys. As your friend and sister there’s something that I want to tell you.”

“Yeah? Go on.”

“Okay, but you can’t laugh.”

“I swear, I won’t.” I promised.

Hermione hesitated and then said, “I like Fred.”

“Yes, I know.”

“What?” Hermione flustered, “You know? How?”

“Mione, I literally saw him kiss you last year! And I saw your reaction.”

“Oh, I, er, I didn’t know anyone was paying attention.”

“I’m a lot more observant than people seem to think. So was there more to this or did you merely intend on telling me about your feelings?” I asked.

Hermione gave a soft smile, “He asked me to be his girlfriend after the last Order meeting.”

I gasped and then had to cover my mouth to keep from waking the entire house. “Really?” She nodded, “Oh, that’s wonderful, Mione! Did you say yes?”

“Of course I did. I really, really like him, Em. And sure, he jokes a lot, but he’s actually really smart and kind and... cute.”

I let out a laugh and said, “I’m happy for you, Mione.”

***

In the afterlife, someone else was celebrating a newly formed happy couple. Cedric had taken to visiting the Potters quite frequently, as they had been the ones to escort him into death. They were joined now by a new couple, one that Cedric had not had the pleasure of meeting. Their names were Taleus and Tonks, and he liked them very much. They spent nearly all of their time watching a baby, their baby, little Teddy. Cedric had spent the majority of his time looking after his friends and his old girlfriend, Cho. 

Cho had done quite a bit of crying and her friends had done quite a bit of comforting. One friend in particular though; Marietta, had spent an excessive amount of time trying to make Cho feel better.

And now, after a year of doing it, something had happened. It would seem as though Cho had finally, finally moved on.

For there, in Cho’s bedroom, Marietta and Cho were sitting on the bed. Marietta had leaned in and kissed Cho, and Cho had kissed her right back. Cedric couldn’t be anything but happy for her. He only hoped the rest of the world could be as accepting.


	2. Owls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Reminder: I do not own the Harry Potter books or any of the Harry Potter characters. They belong to JK Rowling, as does The Tale of the Three Brothers.*

**Dear Emma,**

**I promise to be careful. And I have been being careful.**

**In fact, I do like children. I like babies too.**

**I would tell you that, yes the world has gone to shit, but I believe the question was rhetorical. That joke was truly horrible, but I forgive you. He keeps the snake with him at all times, so if I tried, I might succeed, but it would cost my life and then he would know that we were after the horcruxes. It would only be worth the risk if it was the last one, do you agree? He has not directly mentioned the horcruxes at all, so either none of his death eaters know about them, or only a select few do. Voldemort entrusted the diary to my dad, so maybe, just maybe he trusted the mystery two with other death eaters. Though, he didn’t tell my dad what he had given him, so I don’t think that the others would know what they have. Any idea of how to undo a horcrux? Is it possible? I’m listening to everything Voldemort says, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get anything, he’s very tight lipped.**

**I’ll keep my eyes open,**

**Draco**

I sighed, I supposed he had managed something, the other two horcruxes could have been with death eaters, but that didn’t narrow things down much.

**Dear Draco,**

**Do not attempt to harm the snake. I repeat, do NOT attempt to harm the snake. There is only one way to undo a horcrux, but I fear it isn’t an option for us. To undo it, Voldemort would need to feel some shade of remorse for the murders he committed and I do not think he is capable of feeling such things.There is no way to make him feel remorse, he’s heartless, so we just have to find another way.**

**You might be right about him entrusting horcruxes to the other death eaters, it’s worth looking into anyway. Who does he seem to trust the most? I know he trusted Barty Crouch Jr. but the timeline doesn’t seem to fit, at least not with what I know.And even if he had one, he’s dead now, so it would probably have been relocated, yeah?**

**This summer has been rather dull thus far. Research is never as fun when you’re doing it alone, I’m ready to be back at Hogwarts. I’m worried for Fred and George. They opened premise in Diagon Alley, but I’m not sure how long they will be able to keep it. With all of this fear and distrust going around, loads of shops are going out of business. Not only that, but the muggles are starting to notice that something is happening. Did Voldy talk about the bridge at all, was making it collapse a strategic move or was it just some death eaters having fun? Lots of people are disappearing, either going into hiding or being taken or killed. I have a feeling a lot of people won’t be sending their children back to Hogwarts this year.**

**I can tell that Hermione is worried, I mean, she’s muggleborn. Does Voldy have plans to take over the school?**

**Love,**

**Emma**

It was over a week before I received a response.

**Dear Emma,**

**Of all of the death eaters, I think he probably trusts Snape and Bellatrix the most, so probably one of them, if not both. It could be hidden in their houses, vaults or maybe even in Azkaban. That’s that last place anyone would think to look, right? The bridge was just Bellatrix having a laugh. The extent of his plans are killing you, killing Harry, killing Dumbledore, abolishing the Order and then he’ll go after the school. I know his first priority is killing Dumbledore and getting rid of the Order for the moment, I’m sure he will go after Hogwarts though.**

**~Draco**

His letter was so short, I felt like he was pulling away from me. Even so, I sat down and wrote him a reply immediately.

**Dear Draco,**

**Remember, you can leave at any time, you can come stay with me. You’re right, one of the horcruxes could be in Azkaban, but I say we should wait to go there as a last resort. I suspected as much with the bridge. How long do you think we have before he gets the school? I haven’t got anything going on over here to update you on, but I miss you Draco.**

**Love,**

**Emma**

His reply did not arrive until after Harry’s birthday.

**However long it takes to kill Dumbledore.**

I flipped the page over, thinking that maybe the rest of the letter was on the other side, but there was nothing there. The Order was failing to protect the people, I could be of no help and Draco was pulling away. I was losing him. Or... had I already lost him? I didn’t write back. Snape kept the Order informed on Voldemort’s plans and recounted the death tolls.

I stopped going to the Order meetings, and spent my time watching Teddy and taking care of him. While he napped, I researched the deathly hallows. Most everything I read sounded fake and it became even less believable when I learned about the invisibility cloak. They claimed that it was one of a kind, but Harry and I shared one that was just like it. After a while, I gave up on my searching and tried to figure out ways to occupy myself.

That was when I decided to go flying. I was so bored of being cooped up that I thought I would have been glad to run into a death eater. I was simply itching for a fight. So, the day before we were to receive our O.W.L.S. results, I flew straight out of my bedroom window. It was so nice to be on my Firebolt again after going so long without it.

Once the sun began to set, I returned home, unable to help my disappoint.

I quenched my boredom by reading Teddy a bedtime story from The Tales of the Beetle and the Bard. I had already read him a load of the stories, tonight we were onto... I flipped through the pages until I found where we had left off. The Tale of the Three Brothers.

“There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at twilight. In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and too dangerous to swim across. However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water. They were halfway across it when they found their path blocked by a hooded figure.

“And Death spoke to them. He was angry that he had been cheated out of three new victims, for travelers usually drowned in the river. But Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers upon their magic and said that each had earned a prize for having been clever enough to evade him.

“So the oldest brother, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for its owner, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death! So Death crossed to an elder tree on the banks of the river, fashioned a wand from a branch that hung there, and gave it to the oldest brother.

“Then the second brother, who was an arrogant man, decided that he wanted to humiliate Death still further, and asked for the power to recall others from Death. So Death picked up a stone from the riverbank and gave it to the second brother, and told him that the stone would have the power to bring back the dead.

“And then Death asked the third and youngest brother what he would like. The youngest brother was the humblest and also the wisest of the brothers, and he did not trust Death. So he asked for something that would enable him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility.

“Then Death stood aside and allowed the three brothers to continue on their way, and they did so, talking with wonder of the adventure they had had, and admiring Death’s gifts. In due course the brothers separated, each for his own destination.

“The first brother traveled on for a week or more, and reaching a distant village, sought out a fellow wizard with whom he had a quarrel. Naturally with the Elder Wand as his weapon, he could not fail to win the duel that followed. Leaving his enemy dead upon the floor, the oldest brother proceeded to an inn, where he boasted loudly of the powerful wand he had snatched from Death himself, and of how it made him invincible.

“That very night, another wizard crept upon the oldest brother as he lay, wine-sodden, upon his bed. The thief took the wand and, for good measure, slit the oldest brother’s throat.

And so Death took the first brother for his own.

“Meanwhile, the second brother journeyed to his own home, where he lived alone. Here he took out the stone that had the power to recall the dead, and turned it thrice in his hand. To his amazement and his delight, the figure of the girl he had once hoped to marry, before her untimely death, appeared at once before him.

“Yet she was sad and cold, separated from him as by a veil. Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered. Finally the second brother, driven mad with hopeless longing, killed himself so as truly to join her.

“And so Death took the second brother for his own.

“But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him. It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. And then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and they departed this life, as equals...”

I finished and closed the book. With a glance at Teddy, I found that he was fast asleep, with his mouth opened slightly. He was positively adorable. I scooped him up gently and carried him into his room. I settled him into his crib with a quick kiss to his little forehead. I turned on the muggle baby monitor and closed the door softly.

This was about the Deathly Hallows, there was no denying that. But what were the Deathly Hallows doing in a book of children’s tales? This would explain where all of the rumors sprung up from, but...the Deathly Hallows were real, Grindelwald and Dumbledore had proven it.

I shook my head and got myself ready for bed. I curled into bed, hugging my pillow and squeezing my eyes shut. But sleep did not come, I was far too anxious. So, I did what I always did when I couldn’t sleep; I went downstairs to sit in the kitchen. Per usual, I was not the only one. Mrs. Weasley was pacing back and forth and back again.

“Hey, Mrs. Weasley,” I greeted her. “What’s wrong?”

She sighed, “Oh nothing honey.”

I raised my brows and crossed my arms. “I know that look, something is certainly up.”

She sighed once more and messaged her temples. “It’s Percy. I wrote to him a month ago and he hasn’t answered me. He wants nothing to do with our family anymore and I don’t know what to do to fix it.”

“Mrs. Weasley, there is nothing for you to fix. He’s confused right now, and I promise you, he will figure it out eventually. He will come to his senses, it just might take a bit. Give him time, people make mistakes, he’s just trying to find his own way. And I know it hurts now, but things will get better. And in the meantime, tomorrow, I think we should take our trip to Diagon Alley. You know, after we get our O.W.L.S. back and get our supply lists, I think we should go get our things and visit Fred and George.” I suggested.

“Oh, speaking of that, I’m worried for Fred, George and Ron too.” Molly said, “Fred and Georgecould go out of business any day or be targeted by death eaters and Ron- he might not get his O.W.L.S.”

“Mrs. Weasley, I hardly think that O.W.L.S. is what matters now.”

She shook her head, “I know that you’re right, I’m just trying to keep things as normal as possible.”

“But, Mrs. Weasley, thinks are not normal, I think it’s better to accept that than to push it aside and hide it away.”

***

The next morning our O.W.L.S. arrived by owl. My fingers shook as I opened the envelope and pulled out the parchment. Hermione, Ron and Harry all did the same.

**Arithmancy- E**

**Astronomy- O**

**Care of Magical Creatures- O**

**Charms- O**

**Defense Against the Dark Arts- O**

**Divination- O**

**Herbology- O**

**History of Magic- O**

**Muggle Studies- O**

**Potions- O**

**Study of Ancient Runes- A**

**Transfiguration- O**

Not bad. I had received passing marks in everything, even Arithmancy and Study of Ancient Runes. Ron and Harry were showing each other their grades by the time I looked up. Hermione hadn’t joined them though, in fact, she was looking rather stricken.

“Hermione?” I asked. Had she failed something? “What is it?”

“Nothing,” She whispered hurriedly and stuffed the parchment into her back pocket. “How did you all do?”

“Fine,” I said, “I got all of my O.W.L.S. And how about you?” I asked Ron and Harry, peering over at them.

“Uh, I got an outstanding in Defense Against the Dark Arts, exceeds expectations and acceptable in the rest. Except for Divination, and History of Magic. Failed them both, but that was no surprise at all.”

“What about potions?” I asked, knowing he had been worried about doing well in that exam.

His expression soured, “Exceeds expectations, so not good enough to be an auror.”

“It’s fine, just as Snape to make an exception.” I suggested.

Harry scoffed, “You really think Snape would go for that? He already thinks that I get everything I want.” He subconsciously grasped at his forearm, no one else seemed to notice.

I rolled my eyes, “He does not.” I turned to Ron and asked, “How did you do?”

He shrugged and showed me his parchment. Like Harry, he had failed divination and history of magic. Most of his other grades were ‘Acceptable’s with an ‘Exceeds Expectations’ in Defense Against the Dark Arts. I grinned at him, and said, “Good job.”

“Thanks. But Harry, who do you reckon did better between the two of them, Emma or Hermione?” Ron asked, grinning broadly.

“They probably both got Outstanding in everything.”

“Oh I most certainly did not.” I retorted.

“Me neither.” Hermione said.

“Really?” Ron asked skeptically.

“Really.” I replied and read out, “Arithmancy, E, Study of Ancient Runes, A.”

“And O’s in all the rest?” Asked Ron.

I nodded, but as I did, Hermione snatched my paper from my hand. “Hang on.” She said, scanning over it. “How come you’ve got twelve classes on here? You didn’t take Study of Ancient Runes or Arithmancy!”

“Draco and I just took all of the exams.” I explained. “Because we thought it was worth a shot. And see, it worked, I got twelve O.W.L.S. Only three other people have managed that at Hogwarts. I recited the names from memory, it was easy, for I knew all of those people. “Bill Weasley, Percy Weasley and Barty Crouch Jr. So I’m the first girl.”

Hermione was staring at me as though I had done something horribly outrageous and offensive. She opened her mouth and then closed it again, reminding me a bit of a fish. “But- you- that isn’t allowed!”

“Yes it is.” I said. “I read over the rules that Flitwick handed out, and it didn’t say anywhere that we had to have been enrolled in the course to take the O.W.L.S. exam for it.”

“Oh,” Hermione said and handed back my grades. “I didn’t know that.”

My grades hadn’t been in my hand for more than a second before a hand reached over my shoulder and snatched it away from me. I whirled around. It was Sirius. Remus was just behind him with little Teddy in his arms. He looked over my grades and then did a double take.

“You didn't charm this page, did you?” He asked.

“No!” I shouted, indignation filling my voice.

A smile blossomed on his face and he pushed the paper into Remus’s hand, taking Teddy from him so that Remus could look properly. He looked at me and was that pride in his gaze? “Well done, Emma!” Then Remus turned the page over and began to read something on the back. I hadn’t known there was a back. Whoops.

“Wait, what does the back say?” I asked.

Remus’s lips curved up as he read on. “Professor Snape has selected you to be the captain for the Slytherin team.”

“What?” I raced forward and snatched the parchment from his hands, reading it through. Remus was right! I had been made into the captain. Harry turned over his own paper and then he was beaming. “Harry?” I asked. “Are you the Gryffindor captain then?”

He nodded. I pulled him close and wrapped my arms around him. He hugged me right back. And I knew that this made up for the sorrow he had felt last summer when Hermione, Ron and I had been made Prefects and he had been left behind.

Sirius was in such a good mood at breakfast that he even made Kreacher a cool whip and strawberry covered waffle.

After breakfast, we gathered up all of our school lists and prepared to head off to Diagon Alley for the day. We were to be accompanied by Remus, Molly and Arthur. Sirius had opted to stay home and take care of Teddy. I had shown Sirius where he and I were in The Tales of the Beetle and the Bard and Sirius had asked if it would be alright for him to read the next story to Teddy. I, of course, had said yes.

I was glad Teddy would grow up with so many people who cared about him and not living with a dreadful aunt. I imagined if Harry and I had grown up like this; surrounded by people who loved us. Would we be different?


	3. Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes

We arrived at Diagon Alley a little before midday, usually the busiest time for it, but found it relatively empty. Most of the shops were closed and empty. Everything seemed somehow grayer, even the cobblestones themselves. It took far longer to find everything we needed, as most of our usual shops were closed down.

The other witches and wizards we saw avoided eye contact and kept to themselves, quieting the streets greatly.

“Was it like this the first time?” I asked Remus softly, feeling as though it was somehow wrong to disturb the eerie silence that engulfed the place.

He offered me a solemn nod in return. “It wasn’t this fast the last time. No one really knew the full extent of his evil yet, so we were slow to panic. Most people ignored it at first and simply carried on with their lives as though nothing was happening. That was mostly when I was little. When I entered Hogwarts is when things began to shift. My first year, we would hear about the crazies who were overreacting and going into hiding. Then, in my second year, we started to get news of classmates with family members who were missing, dead or had gone mad from torture. Third year, a couple of students didn’t turn up for the start of term, mostly those with parents who had been outspoken about their hatred towards Voldemort.

“Fourth year it got worse, far worse. I’d say the school was down to half capacity at that point. Sirius, Peter, James and I all kept coming though, so did your mum. Most of the muggleborns kept coming. See, their parents didn’t understand the dangers their children were in, didn’t know any of it. Then the muggleborns started disappearing, going on holiday and never coming back. People started joining up, either with the Order or with the death eaters.” Remus finished.

“And you, Sirius, mum, dad and Peter were all Order members?” I clarified.

“Yes.” Remus replied, “But Peter, of course, was a death eater too.”

By that point, we’d reached the curve in the street, that upon rounding would give us our first look at Fred and George’s shop. When I saw it, I couldn’t help the grin that broke across my face. It was fantastic, Utterly brilliant. The most magnificent thing I had ever set eyes on.

While the surrounding buildings were dull and gray, theirs was positively bursting with color. As we neared it, I was able to read one of the giant posters on display. It was purple with flashing yellow letters and read out;

Why are you worrying about You-Know-Who? You should be worrying about U-No-Poo! The constipation sensation that’s gripping the nation!

Hermione’s thoughts flooded with fear. I had been trying my best to keep out of people’s minds this summer, but in recent weeks it had become harder and harder, especially when they were feeling one of the stronger emotions. I grabbed her hand and squeezed in what I hoped was a reassuring way.

“Here we go,” I whispered, and together we stepped across the threshold. It was beautiful chaos, thousands of sounds all at once, things flying around. There were more people in here than there were in the whole rest of Diagon Alley. It was better in crowded places, I was less likely to hear any private thoughts. All of us broke apart from one another, carried apart by our interests being peaked in various corners of the busy shop. I found myself standing before a giant habitat filled with little creatures. They most resembled colored cotton balls that had been magically enlarged to the size of a cantaloupe. It took me far longer than it should have to place them. But then it came to me... Pygmy puffs.

But somehow, Fred and George had managed something that had never been done before. Pygmy puffs were only meant to come in purple, pink and blue. And their fur was said to be immune to magic, so there was no way their coloring had been magically altered. I pushed my mind out, searching through the shop, trying to find those familiar minds, either Fred or George. I didn’t have to go far, Fred was standing but a few meters behind me. I wheeled around and asked, “How have you managed this?” I gestured to the Pygmy puffs over my shoulder.

“Oh thank the heavens, someone has finally noticed.” Fred grinned. “It took loads of time to breed them, we used a muggle process, selective breeding, judging which ones seemed to be closest to the color we desired.

“Well you did brilliantly,” Hermione grinned, appearing at my side.

“Mione!” Fred said, his voice filled with delight. I turned back to the Pygmy puffs to allow them their space.

They really were quite adorable little things. I tried to remember everything I could about them. I knew that their fur rendered them impenetrable, effectively making them invulnerable. They also couldn’t die of old age, the things were practically immortal. They were incredibly intelligent and could save the life of someone if they so chose, but it would result in their deaths. It was the only known way for one to die.

“Hey Fred?”

“Hmmm.” He responded, coming to stand beside me.

“How much do these cost?” I asked.

“Fifteen galleons each, but I’ll tell you what, if you’d like more than one, I’ll only charge you five for each.” I grinned at him.

I turned to face Hermione and asked, “Do you think Honey would try to eat them?”

She shook her head, “You seem to be able to communicate with Honey just fine, so I would say no. She’s smart enough to realize that they’re not food.”

“Right then. Fred. I’ll take three.”

He beamed at me, “Which ones?” I examined them for a moment more and then decided on the little trio clumped together in a pile in the corner, clearly asleep. One was the brightest shade of yellow I had ever seen, the second was a blue that could only be described as a mix between aqua and sky blue and the last one was a brilliant bubblegum pink. They were all babies, that much was clear, for they were only the size of clementines. Fred scooped them up and passed them over to me gently. I settled them onto my shoulder, where they remained curled together, though their noses did lift into the air, getting a sense of my scent.

Suddenly, I felt another mind enter my vicinity. A mind that I knew almost as well as I knew my own. Draco’s.

I reached out to him, casually, as though no tension was between us. ‘ _I got some new friends_.’ I showed him the three little ones perched on my shoulder. ‘ _Any name ideas?_ ’

I waited for a good long while. Just as I had convinced myself that he was going to ignore me, his answer echoed in my head. ‘ _Saffron for the yellow one. Rouge for the pink one. And Callisto for the blue one_.’

‘ _Saffron, Rouge and Callisto it is. Thanks, you’re the best. Do you wanna come in?_ ’

‘ _I’m sorry, Emma. I can’t_.’

‘ _I want to talk to you. Where are you, I’ll meet you_.’

I could feel him shaking his head, so I knew his answer before he said it. ‘ _I’m sorry, Emma, really. Please, don’t try and find me_.’ The urgency in his tone was unmistakeable. So, for once, I listened.

‘ _Okay._ ’

And I didn’t try to find him, I didn’t search others minds to see if they could see him. I left him alone, because I trusted that he had a good reason behind his request.

I busied myself by wandering throughout the rest of the store, taking in the full extent on Fred and George’s brilliance for the first time. And they really were brilliant, there was no denying it now. I had to keep myself from purchasing dozens of various things, instead opting to purchase the Pygmy puff necessities.

Finally, I was ready to go, toting several heavy bags filled to the brim with things I doubted I would actually ever have a use for.

I found myself waiting at the entrance of the shop with Molly, Remus, George, Ginny and Arthur. Hermione and Fred had disappeared into the back room shortly after I had selected my Pygmy puffs, but I had no clue where Harry and Ron had gone off to. Worry lines had began to make themselves more apparent on Remus’s face, aging him a good ten years. Fear was beginning sprout up within me as well so I cast out my find, moving about until I located the pair of them. It was odd, how little effort it took to do this now.

But there they were, hidden beneath the invisibility cloak in Knockturn Alley, spying on Draco. Annoyance flooded every part of me. How dare they!

I did the only think that would serve to relinquish my frustrations. I screamed into their minds as loud as I possibly could. Both of them jumped violently and started swiveling their heads around searching for the source of the wretched sound. ‘ _Get your asses back here before I give you an aneurysm_!’ I hissed into their heads before departing and returning my attentions to my own body.

Arthur, Molly and Remus seemed to be arguing. “I think we ought to go looking for them.” Molly said nervously, looking down the street once more. “What if a death eater has grabbed hold of them.”

“Molly, I’m sure they’re fine.” Arthur said.

“I say we give them ten more minutes and if they don’t turn up, then we go looking for them.” Remus suggested.

“No,” Molly said stubbornly, “We shouldn’t wait, we need to start looking now! Something-”

I interrupted her, “They’re fine.”

“How could you possibly know that?” Molly snapped, far harsher than she had likely intended.

“Because I saw them.”

“What? Where?” Molly turned a full three hundred and sixty degrees, her eyes scanning over every inch of our surroundings before she faced me again.

“They’re in Knockturn Alley. They followed Draco there and were spying on them.” I hissed, anger boiling back in me.

“And how... did you manage to see that.”

“Legilimency.” Was my only response, my mind had drifted elsewhere, for, a thought had just struck me, as surely as lightning breaking through the sky in the midst of a storm. What if I could read animals minds? It seemed as though it could be possible, at least with the more intelligent ones like my Pygmy puffs or any of my pets, really. It was rather disconcerting to think that I was now up to seven pets. I had certainly broken a school rule with that one, seeing as only one pet was permitted per student.

“Legilimency requires eye contact.” Remus said slowly.

“No it doesn’t.” I retorted and then to prove my point, I turned away from all three adults and faced Ginny. Then I pressed a thought into their minds. ‘ _See? I’m not looking at you and I can still get into your minds without effort._ ’ I turned back around and saw shock on all of their faces. “I don’t ever look into your thoughts though, promise.” I added, “I’m not one for invading privacy.”

“How far can you go?” Asked Arthur softly.

“Further and further everyday.” I replied with a shrug, “I haven’t really been testing my reach, but it’s easier with minds I recognize, like yours and Draco’s and Harry’s, Hermione’s, the other Slytherin’s in my year. I can always feel the minds nearest to me, so they become familiar and I can recognize them and keep them separate from strangers. It’s odd though because when people are feeling something very strongly, it’s as though they are screaming it into my head, even those who are said to be skilled Occlumens, which makes me wonder if I am beginning to overpower their own abilities. And it’s odd because I can’t find any books that discuss a witch or wizard begin able to use Legilimency to get past Occlumency.”

“Emma...” Remus said, pausing to take a long, slow breath, “Where did you learn all of this? Who taught you how to do Legilimency?”

I shrugged again, “I taught myself, with books, lots and lots of books. Why?”

“Because there isn’t another witch or wizard alive that can do what you can, no other Legilimens can speak into minds, not without incredibly advanced spells, and even so, that hasn’t been done for centuries. Emma, what you are doing is unheard of.” Remus said. He opened his mouth to say more, but at that very moment, Harry and Ron rounded a corner and came into view.

Ron was blatantly staring at me and it took me a moment to figure out why. Then I remembered the Pygmy puffs crowded on my shoulder.

“What is that?” He asked.

“They’re Pygmy puffs.” I replied. “Saffron, Rogue and Callisto.” I pointed to each of them in turn.

“Where have you been?” Molly shrieked, hands already finding their way to her hips.

“We just fancied a stroll.” Ron said, but his ears turned red.

“Fancied a stroll spying on Draco.” I corrected, raising my eyebrows at them and crossing my arms.

“He was acting all shady, gave his mum the slip and went to Borgin and Burkes. He threatened Borgin and showed him something that made him scared. He bought something, but didn’t take it with him.” Ron said in a rush.

“I think he’s a death eater.” Harry said suddenly.

I snorted. “Right, Draco’s a death eater.” I said sarcastically. “That makes complete sense.”

“He showed Borgin the dark mark, that’s why Borgin was so scared and willing to comply. Malfoy is working for Voldemort!” Harry insisted, a tad too loudly. Several passers by jumped at the mention of his name and sped their pace to get away.

“So you saw this supposed dark mark?” I asked Harry and shifted my stance slightly.

“Well- I- no, but I’m sure it was there.”

I rolled my eyes, “Right well get some proof before you go around making accusations like that.” And without another word I stalked back into the shop.

Only to run into a very disheveled Hermione. “Well, well, had fun, did you?” I asked, smirking at her appearance. Her hair was even bushier than usual, her lips were swollen, and much to my amusement, her shirt was rumpled and incorrectly buttoned. After further examination, I discovered what appeared to be a hickey on her previously unblemished neck.

She blushed a deep shade of red at my words, but a little smile broke through. _She was happy_. “Come here.” I said, pulling out my wand. She drew nearer and I cast a spell that calmed her hair and I moved it in such a way that the hickey would remain unseen. “Fix your buttons,” I instructed and moments later, it looked as though nothing had happened at all. And all of the adults who remain none the wiser, and better yet, Ron and Harry would be ignorant to the situation.

“Was everyone waiting for me?” Hermione asked with worry evident in her voice.

“No, Harry and Ron went off following Draco into Knockturn Alley and now Harry is convinced that Draco is a death eater.” I said with a laugh.

Hermione only looked at me. “Well, is he?” She prompted gently.

“No, of course not!” I answered. _At least not of his own free will._ I added silently in my head. Because there was little chance that he was a death eater, but if he was, I was certain that he had been forced into it, roped by either his parents, his devilish aunt or Voldemort himself.


	4. Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

I gave little Teddy a quick kiss to the forehead and offered Sirius, Remus and Molly each a hug before waving goodbye and boarding the train. Platform night and three quarters was far less crowded than it should have been, it would seem that many of the other students wouldn’t be returning this year.

Harry hadn’t given up on his whole Draco is a death eater theory and had tried to convince me to spy on Draco for him. I, of course, had refused. I wished he would just give it a rest already, but with the way things were going, that didn’t seem possible.

I made my way through the train until I found Draco, Blaise and Millicent gathered in one of the larger compartments. I slid in beside Draco and he subconsciously wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I leaned into the warmth of him and favored that nearness that had been so lacking over the summer.

Neither of us said anything to one another, rather we simply took each other in. It was the only way to make up for all the lost time.

Daphne and Tracey arrived next. Astoria waved to us as she passed by, in search of her friends. Then came Pansy and Theo, a short while later. The compartment filled with chatter, but still, Draco and I remained silent.

Finally, eleven o’clock struck and the train began to move. “We’ve got to patrol the train for a bit.” I reminded him and stood. He followed just behind me as I slid from the compartment and into the aisle beyond.

Draco worked his way towards the front and I, towards the back.

All was rather quiet, many of the students subdued in the midst of the tragedies surrounding us.

Fifteen minutes in, I caught Crabbe and Goyle bullying a new first year who apparently was muggleborn. I stunned them without a thought.

“You alright?” I asked her.

She nodded feebly, and I didn’t miss the tears that had pooled in the corners of her eyes.

I continued on, “Sorry about them, they’re awful, but they’re also idiots. If they try to bother you again, use the spell Colloshoo on them. It’ll stick their feet to the ground and they won’t know what to do.”

Now, the little girl was grinning up at me. “Thanks!”

I was about to leave when I paused, “Hey, what’s your name?”

“Haley.” She replied.

“Nice to meet you, Haley, I’m Emma.” I said before continuing my patrol. Incase things went south and Voldemort got hold of Hogwarts, I needed to know who the muggleborns were, so they could be hidden, at least the young ones who didn’t know enough magic to protect themselves.

I was nearly all the way to the back of the train when I came upon Michael Corner. He was still creepy as ever.

His back was to me and he was leaning against one of the compartment doors, effectively blocking a pretty fourth year Hufflepuff from entering it. She looked rather uncomfortable with him being so close.

“Excuse me,” She said, trying at politeness.

“I’ll tell you what,” He drawled, “I’ll move out of your way, if...” He paused for bravado, “You’ll go on a date with me.”

“Or,” I said, drawing out my wand as he turned to look at me, “You can get out of her way before I hex you.”

Michael scoffed and didn’t move.

“Last chance.” I warned.

“She doesn’t want me to go, do you hon?” Michael asked, reaching out and cupping her cheek.

“I- I just want to go back in my compartment.” She said softly.

“Oh, you don’t mean that.” Michael said, grabbing her arm. That was enough.

I fired a stinging hex at him. Perfectly, it went into his ear. He cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground, clutching his ear. It would be far harder for Madam Pomfrey to alleviate his pain now, with the wound being internal. With any luck, he would go deaf in the ear.

“Now that was an extraordinary bit of magic,” Said a voice. I turned to see a rather large wizard standing there. I didn’t recognize him, so I took a dive into his mind.

He was a Slytherin. Now, he was to be the potions teacher at Hogwarts. Horace Slughorn, in charge of the infamous Slug Club, had connections with a lot of very powerful and successful people. Including Tom Riddle. He had liked Tom Riddle very much. But he detested the death eaters, he would never join them. Because he loved the muggleborns too. And there, there was my mother at my age. Her hair was shorter than mine was now, but there was no mistaking the resemblance between us.

I pulled myself from the depths of his mind. “You’re Professor Slughorn, aren’t you?” I asked.

“Ah and smart too, I see.” He said kindly. “I’m hosting a bout of tea with some of the students, you ought to join us.”

“Is this for your Slug Club?” I asked.

He seemed pleasantly surprised once more, “Why, yes it is. It seems my reputation proceeds me.”

“My parents were in school when you were last a teacher.” I explained.

“Oh! Who are your parents?” He asked.

“Lily and James Potter,” I said after glancing around to make sure no one could overhear.

“You look just like your mother, I was sad to see her go, she was so brilliant, but I didn’t know she had a daughter.”

‘Yeah I was born just a couple of weeks before they died, so there wasn’t really much time to get the news around, not that they would have anyway, with Voldy being after them and all that.” I said with a shrug. “But yeah, I’ll be there, I just need to let my friends know where I’m going.”

***

I made my way to the first Slug Club meeting, in compartment C, after telling my friends. Turns out Blaise had received an invitation as well. Draco was sulking because he had not gotten one, but I assured him that Slughorn would realize he deserved to be there soon enough.

Professor Slughorn was already sitting down at the small table when we entered and so, to my surprise, was Ginny. I seated myself beside her and Blaise sat on my other side.

“How’d you get invited?” I asked.

“Slughorn saw me use the Bat Bogey hex on Zacharias Smith and he said it was really impressive. What about you?” She answered.

“He saw me send a stinging hex straight into Michael Corner’s ear.” I said with a grin. Ginny laughed, but stopped when we heard the compartment door sliding open. I looked over my shoulder to see Cormac McLaggen as he strode inside and seated himself beside Ginny. He was a seventh year Gryffindor whom I found to be rather annoying. Why he was here was beyond my comprehension. Then another boy came in. I recognized him, he was a Ravenclaw in the same year as Cormac, but I had no idea what his name was.

“Ah,” Slughorn said, “Marcus Belby! Cormac McLaggen! Blaise Zabini and Emma P-”

“Evans” I interrupted.

“Right, Evans. You all know Miss. Ginny Weasley I presume.”

Blaise, Cormac and I nodded as Marcus took the seat between Blaise and Slughorn.

“That just leaves Longbottom and Potter.”

The lunch and tea was rather dull and I found myself nearly dosing off a few times, during which, either Ginny or Blaise would kick me to get me to stay awake.

Finally it was over. I bolted from my seat and down the aisle until I was back in our compartment. I laid down on the seat next to Draco and moved so my head was resting on his lap. Idly, he began to run his fingers through my hair, and slowly, my eyes closed.

“Move over,” Blaise said. And then someone was sliding over, lifting my legs and resting them on their own lap.

“So,” Draco prompted, “The lunch? How’d it go.”

I yawned. “Boring.”

“You think everything’s boring,” Millicent commented.

I raised my hand in the air and pointed in the general direction of her voice, “That’s very true.”

“Blaise?” Asked Pansy.

“I can confirm that it was in fact incredibly dull.” He said.

“Who was there?” Asked Theo.

“Harry, Ginny, McLaggen, Bably, Neville and... uh...” I trailed off.

“Belby,” Blaise corrected with a laugh.

“Oh, right, Bebly.” I said.

“Belby.” Blaise said once more.

“That’s what I said.”

“Sure it is, love.” Draco said and I could hear the smile in his voice.

I opened my eyes and grinned up at him.

But, there, just there, something on his arm caught my eye.

My smile faltered.

His hand stilled.

And I had a clear view.

There was no mistaking it.

The dark mark was clear as day upon his forearm.

Branded into his skin.

He knew I had seen it.

Panic clouded his mind.

Terror, horror, grief, a sense of loss.

It was overpowering, infectious.

My heart wasn’t beating.

I wasn’t breathing.

Everything else had simply ceased existing.

Nothing existed except us two.

Because Draco,

my boyfriend,

my best friend,

my love,

was a death eater.

My love.

I loved him.

It hit me with startling clarity.

Our eyes locked.

I didn’t move.

He didn’t move.

_‘Emma...’_ He said into my mind and even that one pleading word sounded so very frightened.

_‘It’s okay. Draco, it’s okay.’_

_‘Can I explain?’_

_‘Yeah, explain, please.’_

_‘You-Know-Who was mad, really mad that I was in the Hall of Mysteries when he tried to get the prophecy. He said I was a part of the reason he didn’t get it. He said he should just kill me right then. But my father said I could be of use. He told You-Know-Who that I could enact his wishes at Hogwarts and Snape could remain there as a spy until it was no longer necessary. So he made me become a death eater and said that if I didn’t do what he asked then he’d kill my parents. I’m sorry, I didn’t want to become this.’_

_‘Draco, it’s okay, we’ll figure this out. I love you.’_ Shit, it had just slipped out. Of course, I meant it, but I hadn’t intended to share it with him so soon. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for him to know that.

There was a pause and then, _‘I love you too.’_

I felt myself relaxing and I could finally breathe again.

***

_“What just happened?” James asked his wife._

_“They’re communicating in each other’s minds I think.” Lily responded, rather unsure._

_“Ugh, I hate it, I wish we could hear what they were saying.” James complained._

_“You’re so nosy.” She laughed, “Let them have their moment.”_

_But then, Emma was storming from the compartment and crossing her arms._

_And suddenly Harry was materializing there._

_“It would seem, that you are not the only nosy one in the family.” Lily said with an exasperated sigh._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so the scene where Emma realizes that Draco is a Death eater is actually one of the five scenes that originally inspired me to write this fanfiction series! It has been planned out since the very beginning, so I truly hope you enjoyed it! I’ll keep a list going, to let you know when the other four scenes occur!
> 
> 1\. Emma figures out that Draco is a death eater on the train  
> 2.  
> 3.  
> 4.  
> 5.
> 
> Okay, so a little background on that. A little thing about me: whenever I am thinking about writing a fanfiction, I won’t do it until inspiration has struck five times with at least five different scenes. This list will appear with every chapter I post from here on out. And it will either remain unchanged or another item will appear there. The numbers signify the order in which I thought of them, not the order in which they occur through out the series! 
> 
> As always, be sure to comment and leave kudos! Enjoy your day!


	5. Felix Felicis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off: I’d like to say how sorry I am that this chapter is a day late.   
> I have a horrible fear of riding bicycles, a fact I recently rediscovered about myself (I know, it’s ridiculous and impractical). You see, this year in gym class we will be doing a biking unit, beginning today. So last night, before I was meant to write this chapter, I went outside and attempted to ride a bike. Merely riding down my street and back brought on a momentary lapse of hysteria and a slight conniption on my part. After that, I wasn’t in the proper mindset to be writing a chapter that was up to par with the rest, so I decided to wait. I was promptly removed from that section of the gym course my my teacher, so I did not have to participate in anything along the lines of biking today. 
> 
> Second off: I am no technical genius, as many of you have likely noticed, so thank you to those of you who told me the chapter was double posted! I have no idea how I managed to do this, nor how I failed to notice on my own. 
> 
> Without further ado, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I shouted, shoving Harry back into the adjacent compartment and slamming the door behind us.

“Wrong with me, really Em? What’s wrong with you? He’s a death eater and you’re sitting there all close to him!” Harry screamed back. I looked into his mind, panicked, thinking he had seen Draco’s mark, but he hadn’t. He had no proof.

I loathed the angry tears that sprung to my eyes. “He is not a death eater! Why do you insist on hating him so much? He’s good!”

“He isn’t and I’ll prove it!”

“You’ll stay the hell away from him!” 

“You forget, I’m the older sibling! I haven’t got to listen to you!”

“Fine! Then you’ll go right back home on this train!” And without another word, I did just about the stupidest thing I could have done. I punched him in the face, both feeling and hearing as his nose broke and his head slammed into the window behind him. He fell to the ground, unconscious.

I left the compartment, and put a sticking charm on the door. He wouldn’t be able to get out of there for a long while.

***

I hadn’t anticipated Order members waiting in Hogsmeade to make sure Harry had arrived safely. When he didn’t get off with the rest of us, they rushed aboard to see what the hold up was. 

I was in so much trouble.

We all filed into the Great Hall and watched the sorting. Haley was sorted into Gryffindor, I could only hope Hermione would look after her. 

Harry came in just after the sorting ceremony had ended. A pang of guilt washed through me. His nose was so swollen and purple. But then he glared at me, and my anger returned with blinding speed. I held his gaze, offering up a glare of my own.

But then, though I hadn’t meant to, I was reading his mind. She’ll see reason eventually, then she’ll understand. I pulled myself out of his head, I didn’t want to be there. Even so, it was difficult to get out. 

My Legilimency was getting stronger than necessary, stronger than I wished it to be.

***

Draco and I were settled in bed for the night, my head on his chest, his arm wrapped around me. “What does Voldemort want you to do?” I whispered into the darkness. My head rose as he inhaled and fell as he exhaled. Again. Then he answered.

“Emma, I can’t-” He paused. “You’re already more involved than I wanted you to be. I don’t want this on you too.”

“Draco, just tell me and then we can figure out what to do from there.” I said.

He shook his head, “Em, I wish it were that easy, but I can’t tell you.”

“Can’t or won’t?” I asked flatly.

He sighed, “Fine, won’t. I’m not involving you in this, it’s my mess, my actions led me here, I’ll deal with the consequences.”

“But I want to help.”

“No.”

I closed my eyes, knowing full well that I would get the truth out of him eventually.

***

The next morning, at breakfast, Snape came around and confirmed all of our class schedules with us. 

Both Draco and I had decided to continue on with all of our classes.

Once Snape confirmed that we had achieved the necessary grades, we were free to go to our first class; Advanced Potions with Slughorn.

Slughorn had just finished giving us directions when Harry and Ron entered the room. I rolled my eyes and groaned. What were they doing here? 

Slughorn got them settled in and then we all began to brew our Draughts of Living Death. Oddly enough, Slughorn was offering a prize for the student who did the best job brewing it, and it was a rather good prize; a vial of Felix Felicis.

I was determined to win it, for it would certainly speed along the process of figuring out what Voldemort had ordered Draco to do.

Draco seemed just as determined though. I noticed a problem just as soon as we started working; Slughorn was having us read from the book and follow those outdated instructions, rather than writing his own on the board as Snape had done. Everyone’s potions quickly began to go downhill... except for Harry’s. Much to my surprise... and eternal annoyance, he seemed to be flourishing. By the end of the class, his potion was the only one that had reached the desired color.

As the vial of Felix Felicis passed from Slughorn’s hand to Harry’s, I glared into the back of his head, and inadvertently entered his mind. His book, Harry’s loaned book had writing in it, scribbles in the margins, crossed off words, corrections and I recognized that small, cramped handwriting, it was Snape’s. Harry had Snape’s old Advanced Potion Making book. And I wanted it.

“He’s never been good at potions before.” Draco hissed, annoyed himself. 

“No, he hasn’t.” I agreed.

***

Our next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts. I stalked down the corridors and collapsed into my usual seat, slumping down and crossing my arms. Draco sat beside me moments later. We were the first two to arrive and Snape raised his eyebrows at us. “Rough day?”

“Don’t even get me started.” I huffed. His brows crept up even higher. 

When I didn’t continue, Draco said, “We had potions first...”

I sat up suddenly and Draco trailed off, looking at me. “Okay, so, what if you just taught both classes and we got rid of Slughorn.” I suggested.

Snape snorted, “He’s that bad?”

“Oh, he’s dreadful. We brewed the Draught of Living Death today and he made us use the instructions from the book! And he gave out a prize to the winner!”

“And you didn’t win?” Snape asked.

“No! I didn’t! Harry did! Harry won! His potion was perfect and the rest of ours were crap! Do you see the problem now?” I said, very loudly.

“Harry, as in Harry Potter, won?” Snape asked. “But- how?”

“Because- and here’s the real kicker- he didn’t have a book because he thought he hadn’t made the cut to take the class, but he had because Slughorn was lenient about it, so Slughorn had him take one of the old books. And get this, he took your old book, with all of the notes and corrections on the potions. And he followed those instructions, so he only did well because he still got you as a teacher while the rest of us were stuck with that incapable buffoon.”

Before Snape could respond, the rest of the class began to file inside and I went back to slouching in my seat. 

I had to admit, the lesson was phenomenal, Snape it seemed, was a very good teacher, no matter the subject. 

We were learning about nonverbal spells and when it came time to practice, he asked if anyone wanted to try and do it. My hand shot up, as did Draco’s.

Snape had us stand across from one another. “Alright, Miss. Evans, you’ll try to disarm Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Malfoy, try to block it. Now, before they begin, can anyone tell me the importance of nonverbal spells?” Hermione’s hand shot in the air, per usual. “Yes? Ms. Granger.”

“Using nonverbal spells gives you a split seconds advantage over your opponent since they don’t know what spell you’ll be casting. It provides you with the element of surprise.” Hermione said.

“Precisely.” Snape said and then turned back to us, “Alright, begin.”

Expelliarmus! The spell shot towards Draco, but with a wave of his wand, a shield formed around him, and the spell dissolved on impact. Over and over, we tried at it and after a bit, Snape called out, “Switch!” Immediately Draco fired a disarming charm at me and I shielded it. Again and again. “Okay, that’s enough.” Snape said and we stopped. “So, clearly these two are adept at nonverbal spells... somehow... so, treat their performance as the goal for this year.”

***

Being the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team had its advantages and its disadvantages. One disadvantage being that I needed to figure out who the hell was going to be on the team this year. Meanwhile, Harry was still refusing to talk to me, something that suited me just fine since I wasn’t talking to him either.

I had spent so much time in his head these past few weeks that it was an odd reminder when he refused to acknowledge my presence. In our second potions lesson of the year, I had begun reading Harry’s mind to see the instructions Snape had written in the pages of his old potions book. And I, in turn whispered all said instructions to Draco and together, we followed them. Easily, the two of us returned to our seats as top of the class students, since we were flawless, while Harry still made the occasional mistake. 

There was no postponing it any longer, by the third week of school, I knew it was time to get a team together for the year. I was at an advantage here, seeing as the other three houses had already formed their teams, so I could play off of their weaknesses. 

Tryouts took nearly four hours for me to complete, but finally, after much deliberation and consideration, I had built myself a team. I quite proud of it, actually, and I thought we would do well for ourselves, and we were certainly in the running for the house cup.

Our first game was against Gryffindor and it was over within half an hour. I had found the snitch and caught it while Harry was off circling the field, far too high to have noticed it. And with that, the game had ended, one hundred eighty to zero. 

Harry had had the gull to accuse to me of cheating, something he very well should have known I hadn’t done. My anger at him boiled into a raging inferno and Draco had been forced to coax me from the field via talking to me, mind to mind. 

Still, he couldn’t fully quench my anger, so when Harry and I got paired with one another in Defense Against the Dark Arts, dueling with nonverbal spells, things went down fast. I could perform nearly every spell without saying the words, whereas he couldn’t get a single one. And it was bloody infuriating. I disarmed him time and time again, and still, he showed no signs of improvement. I thought he was meant to be good at this class!

Finally, after extensive patience on my part, all things considered, I had had enough. And yes, I’ll admit that maybe it was reckless and stupid and he very well could have died, but I was pissed off and holding a weapon capable of doing all things imaginable. So it’s no surprise what happened next. Alright, maybe it was still a tad shocking since he was my brother and all, but what could I say, siblings fight.

I sent an explosive jinx at him, knowing full well that he had no chance of defending himself, and was probably just expecting his wand to fly from his hand again. Of course that wasn’t what happened, rather it blew him back straight through the wall and down three stories to the ground below. 

Then I realized what I had done, and flung my mind out to him. Upon realizing he was fine, my fury reignited and I crossed my arms, even as several voices rang out, calling shocked and angered “Emma!”

Snape rushed down to Harry and brought him up to the hospital wing. When he returned, the first words from his mouth were, “Detention, Miss Evans.”

I glared at him, and even as he stared straight back, I held my stare, I would not be the first to blink.


	6. Memories

As the class was dismissed, all eyes fell on me and remained that way until they were forced to turn away and enter the chaos of the steadily filling corridor.

Only Hermione, Draco and I remained behind.

Hermione rushed over to me and gripped my arms. “What the hell was that?!” Her eyes were wide, so full of shock, confusion and fear.

“Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy, you have to leave. She attacked another student, this is beyond my power now.” Then Snape turned to me, and real anger shown in his eyes, “We’re going to see the Headmaster.”

Hesitantly, Draco and Hermione turned the opposite way down the corridor, while Snape ushered me in the direction of Dumbledore’s office.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Snape hissed, “What the hell were you thinking? You could have killed him!”

“He’s fine.”

“He’s in the hospital wing! With a concussion and broken bones to say the least. What were you trying to do? Were you angry with him? Trying to prove something? Get him out of the way for Quidditch?”

I stopped walking in the middle of the corridor.

“Hang on, you think this is because of Quidditch?” I shouted.

“I honestly don’t know what to think, kid! You attacked your brother!” The last bit came out in a hissed whisper to ensure others in the corridor didn’t hear.

“It’s not like he was unarmed or anything, he chose not to defend himself.” I snapped.

“Kid, you knew full well that he was not prepared to defend himself and you were going against my directions, you were only meant to disarm him and instead you blasted him through a wall!”

I rolled my eyes and glared at Snape, “Get over it.”

The remainder of the journey was made in silence.

When we arrived, Snape explained everything that had occurred to Dumbledore and we listened patiently. Once Snape had finished, he asked, “Emma, why did you blast Harry through a wall?”

“He thinks that Draco is a death eater and he wanted me to watch Draco, and report back to him. When I refused, he used our father’s invisibility cloak to hide in our compartment on the train and spy on us. And it pissed me off.” I explained through gritted teeth.

Dumbledore nodded, “And is Draco a death eater?”

I thought for a moment, considering my answer. Perhaps I ought to tell Dumbledore the truth, but it would be a great betrayal of Draco to do so. Plus, I didn’t even know what job Draco had been tasked with. “Of course not.”

I quick glance passed between Snape and Dumbledore, and it didn’t slip by my notice. I turned to look at Snape and then back to Dumbledore. “Well then,” Dumbledore began, placing his clasped hands upon his desk and leaning forward, “I do believe this is just an ordinary fight between siblings. And when siblings are given such powerful weapons, things do tend to get out of hand. Emma, I see no reason to dismiss you from the school, though I will have to contact Sirius and Remus to let them know what has happened and I will ask that you refrain from attacking him in the future, even it you do have just cause.”

Right, Sirius and Remus. I still wasn’t used to having people back home who cared about me... and people to hold me responsible for my actions. Vernon and Petunia would have been simply delighted to hear that I had nearly killed Harry, Sirius and Remus, on the other hand, likely would not share in their sentiments.

My mind did that thing again, where it reached into another’s mind without my asking it to and then I was seeing Dumbledore’s thoughts play out.

I reminded him of himself at my age. Disagreeing with our brothers and since we were both more powerful, it had brought about them harm.

I dragged myself out, it was horribly invasive, reading other people’s thoughts and I didn’t like that I was doing it without meaning to. I would need to see Salazar about that sometime soon.

I turned back to Snape and asked, “So, do I still have detention?”

He sighed, “Yes. That is non-negotiable.”

***

In Muggle Studies I explained the situation to Hermione and was glad to hear her response. “When he really shouldn’t have been snooping, now should he?” I nodded my agreement. “But, you really shouldn’t have blasted him through a wall either.”

“Yeah, I know, it was stupid.”

“So, what did Snape make you do in detention?”

I shrugged, “All he had me do was write an essay about Mithridatism. It was actually really interesting, all of the research I did on it. It’s something worth looking into a bit further. It’s like this combination of Defense Against the Dark Arts and Advanced Potions, that’s just so intriguing. Muggles do it with snake venoms mostly, but I read about a few other cases with various other things, successes and failures.” It was something to think about trying, what with Voldemort’s giant snake, Nagini, lurking about at his side.

***

A couple of weeks later, I was struggling in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Thoughts from random classmates kept pushing their way into my mind. It was headache inducing to say the least... and I was sick of it.

Harry was back in class and had managed to master nonverbal disarming charms. I still wasn’t speaking to him, nor him to me.

“Nice one, Harry!” Ron called out as Harry preformed a particularly good disarming charm on Hermione.

And suddenly I was flashing into Snape’s mind, which was so full of emotion and pained memory.

Snape had just finished his exam and decided go out onto the grounds. He wandered about until he came upon James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Snape was taunted mercilessly and hung upside down in the air by James as Sirius called out, “Nice one James!”

Then the scene shifted and James was dumping ink on all of Snape’s scrolls of rolled up parchment.

Then James was locking Snape in a cupboard, where he would remain trapped for three days.

On and on it went. Until finally, I tore myself free and ran from the room. As I went, I heard Draco say, “I’ll go get her.” Draco was by my side in an instant. I leaned into his warmth.

“Em, what’s wrong?” He brushed his thumb across my cheek, swiping away a tear. I hadn’t known I was crying.

I gulped down a heaving breath and showed him everything I’d seen. When I had finished, I choked out, “I knew my father was a jackass but I thought he was the lovable kind, like Ron. Like he would say stupid things on occasion, but he didn’t realize how they effected people. But, Draco, he was a bully, like Crabbe and Goyle and Michael Corner. He didn’t even have a reason for it, he was just mean.”

“Emma... think, in all of those memories, Lily, your mum, she loathed James, yelled at him, helped Snape. But she married him, she ended up loving him, so something must have changed, likely he did. And he was in the Order, fighting against You-Know-Who until the very end.” Draco said, doing his best to console me.

I sniffed shakily, “But what if nothing changed at all, what if he just used a love potion on her? Maybe she didn’t love him at all!”

“Emma, love, look at yourself, look at Harry. If he had used a love potion on your mum, then neither of you would possess the ability to love at all, and I can say with certainty that the two of you can love.” He reached up and brushed away another tear. “We should see Sal soon, we need to figure out a way to get these vacations into other peoples minds to stop. It isn’t doing you any good.”

He stood and offered me his hand. I took it and slowly, he helped me to my feet. “Snape will be wondering where we’ve gotten off to.” I said, clearing the remainder of the tears from my cheeks.

***

After Quidditch practice, I headed to Snape’s classroom for my final detention. I settled myself at a desk and asked, “So, what’s my assignment for today?”

“Read this, chapters six through nine,” He began, plunking a large book onto the desk. “And write an essay about the successes and shortcomings of the Wolfsbane potion. And ponder ways in which said potion could be improved upon. Twenty inches, you may leave when it is complete.”

I nodded and got straight to work. In the end, it only took me about an hour and a half to write the essay. When I was through, I packed my things and turned it in to him at his desk. I turned to go, but then paused, I just had to know something first.

“Professor, I know you were friends with my mum and you said I’m just like my father,” Knowing what I knew about my dad now, that sentence stung. “Were you friends with him too?”

Snape paused for a moment and then said, “No, your father and I didn’t see a lot of one another, but everyone in the school knew who he was. Smartest in the class, brilliant at Quidditch, tended to bend the rules quite often, extremely protective of his friends. Just like you.”

***

I filled Daphne, Theo and Pansy in on what I had seen from Snape’s memories when I returned to the common room, because, for some reason, Draco wasn’t there.

“And then he lied to me, told me he didn’t really encounter my dad all that much, like why is Snape protecting him?” I ranted to them.

“I think he might be trying to protect you, you know, from the truth.” Daphne mused.

“Yeah,” Daphne agreed, “Like your dad is gone, and he doesn’t want you to have this negative image of him.”

“Maybe, but I wanted the truth and I didn’t get it.” I countered.

Theo thought for a moment then said, “Em, I don’t think what he was telling you was necessarily a lie, I mean aside from the whole ‘they didn’t really know each other thing.’ But think, you dad was the smartest in his year, he did play Quidditch really well, we know he was really close with his friends and would always stick up for them, as evidenced by Sirius and Remus, and he did break a lot of rules. Which does sound a lot like you, Em.”

“Maybe Snape is just able to look past all of the bad stuff and is seeing the similarities between his good qualities. Remember, when he told you that, he said it was a compliment, so its not like he was referring to the less moral aspects of him.” Daphne offered.

I sighed and said, “I just don’t see how he could have possibly moved past it. I mean, my father torments him for years, just because Snape existed.”

“Emma, there has got to be more to it all.” Said Pansy. “Your dad was Head boy, an Order member, one of the few pure bloods who wasn’t prejudice against muggleborns or magical creatures. I think you ought to ask Remus and Sirius about your dad, and then maybe, and I know you might see this as invasive, but look into their memories, because I’m quite sure they will have wonderful memories of your dad. And plus, looking into their memories, it isn’t nearly as invasive as reading their minds.”

“But only look, if you suspect that they aren’t telling you everything, because Em, you deserve to know.” Daphne said seriously.

“Thank you, you three,” I said, “I think I’m going to head up to bed, alright?”

“Good night.” They all said.

“Good night,” I echoed back.

When I made it up to Draco and my room, I had expected to find him there, doing homework or sleeping or waiting for me to get back. But he was no where to be found. I padded into the bathroom and discovered that he wasn’t there either.

Perhaps, he had just decided to take an evening stroll to clear his head. Or maybe he was romping through the Forbidden Forest in his wolf form.

In my heart of hearts, I knew the real reason he wasn’t here. Though, I refused to admit it to myself. After all, there was no way Draco, would be out doing whatever it was Voldemort had instructed him to do. Was there? I forced the unwelcome thought from my mind. Draco was good, he was kind and he did not want to be a death eater.

But... to save his mother’s life, I wasn’t sure what he would be willing to do. Would he carry out Voldemort’s wishes to save her?

I groaned and forced my mind to cease its downward spiral. So, I slid into bed to await his return.

An hour passed, then two, three, four.

And by the time I had fallen asleep, Draco still had not returned.


	7. Hogsmeade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! I’m alive! This journey into the world of the living will likely be brief and then I shall be dragged back down to the underworld by my schoolwork, so enjoy this chapter! Obviously my posting plan has gone to shit in the midst of four AP classes, SAT prep, the Varsity swim season and my part time job. So please, I’m begging you, bear with me here. Love you all and thank you for the support!

I woke up the next morning to find an exhausted looking Draco sleeping on his stomach beside me. His mouth was slightly agape and one arm was draped over my stomach. Gently, I moved his arm down by his side and slipped from the bed. I padded around the room getting ready for the day ahead and by the time I had left our dorm room, Draco was still sound asleep.

Emmett and Latte trotted on behind me as I made my way to the Great Hall, Saffron, Callisto and Rogue perched safely on my shoulder. Once I arrived, I grabbed two plates and began loading them with various foods. Draco’s plate consisted of toast with a light jam spread, a heaping glop of vanilla yogurt with several different berries mixed in, a slice of cornbread and a cup of hot cocoa topped with marshmallows, whip cream, cinnamon and a peppermint candy cane. For myself, I piled on scrambled eggs with loads of pepper, a few slices of bacon and a blueberry muffin. Then I made myself a hot cocoa, just like Draco’s.

Once I was satisfied with the meals, I levitated them back to our common room where Daphne, Theo, Blaise and Millicent were already eating.

“Are you all going to go to Hogsmeade today?” I asked as I took the paper off of my muffin.

Theo nodded. “Jason’s going to meet me there,” he said grinning, he was almost giddy.

“Oh, how wonderful! What’s he been doing?” I asked.

“He’s been off in China, making some sort of trade agreement for some incredibly rare dragons I think.” Theo said, “Apparently he got himself a pretty good position, especially for someone just starting, he was really excited about it.”

“I’m going too, to look after Astoria, she’s got a date with Neville Longbottom.” Daphne said.

“Who has a date with Longbottom?” Draco asked, coming out from the guy’s side of the dormitory staircase. He looked tired and stressed, but as he settled himself beside me, leaning in and plucking up his plate with a whispered, “Thanks,” I let it slide.

“Astoria, they’ve gotten on great as friends, so I want to be there in case it all falls apart on their date.” Daphne explained.

“Pans and I have a date too.” Blaise added. Draco and I didn’t really do dates, at least not in the traditional sense. We studied and did homework together, went out into the Forbidden Forest in our animagus forms and spent a lot of time together in general, but they were never ‘dates.’

“I’m staying back, I’ve got a big Ancient Runes test on Monday and an Arithmancy essay to write.” Millicent said. “Are you going to go?”

“I think so,” I said, “I haven’t gotten all that much homework, so might as well, Draco?”

“Not sure,” He said, “I might go later, but there was a book I wanted to look at in the library.”

Liar.

He was such a bad liar, but the others nodded as though he explanation made perfect sense. And to them, it probably, because they didn’t know him like I did.

“Okay, have fun.” I said and kissed his cheek. “I’m going to head down now, I don’t want to get stuck in that line. Join me, once you finish with that book.”

***

The air was painfully cold and the wind was biting. I sought shelter in The Three Broomsticks, only to find Fred and Hermione there when I arrived. They were seated in a corner booth and Hermione was curled into Fred. I seated myself on the opposite end of the pub to give them their privacy. A few minutes later, Tracey came bustling inside, and a few steps behind her were Dean and Ginny. Were the two of them dating now?

“Tracey! Ginny!” I called and all three heads turned my way. Though I had never had a real conversation with Dean, he seemed nice enough, so I gestured for the three of them to come over. Tracey and Ginny sat down with me, but Dean remained standing, looking off into the distance.

“The weather is not on our side today.” Tracey said, swatting flakes of snow from her hair.

I nodded my agreement, “It was nice all week, and then out of the blue... this, its like we’ve flipped straight from summer to winter, no in between.”

Ginny laughed, “I like the cold.”

“Are you two dating now?” I asked, motioning to the space that separated Ginny and Dean.

Ginny nodded, “This was supposed to be our second date, but it’s a little cold for Dean’s taste.”

“It’s a little cold for every sane person’s taste.” Tracey said.

“Hang on,” Dean said, “Isn’t that your brother with Hermione?” We all followed Dean’s gaze to where Hermione and Fred sat.”

“Yeah, the two of them are dating now, I knew it would happen sooner or later.” Ginny said, unfazed.

“Oh, good,” I said, “I’m glad she told you.”

“Yeah, well she hasn’t told Ron yet, and we all know he has a tendency to overreact.” Ginny said.

“Do you think he’ll be mad?” Tracey asked.

“Oh yeah, he gets mad about everything. In my second year, he didn’t talk to Hermione for months because he thought her cat had eaten Scabbers. Then in my third year, he didn’t talk to Harry for a really long time because his name had been pulled from the Goblet for the TriWizard Tournament. It’s just the way he is.”

‘ _Where are you?’_ Echoed in my mind suddenly. But I’d long since grown used to it.

‘ _The Three Broomsticks, corner booth, with Tracey, Ginny and Dean_.’ I answered.

‘ _Dean?_ ’ He asked.

‘ _I know, right? But he’s Ginny’s boyfriend, so I’ve got to put up with him. He hasn’t been bad at all though thus far_.’ I said.

‘ _I’ll be there soon_.’

“Whenever he finds out, whether one of them tells him or he happens upon them, there’ll be an explosion for sure.” Ginny said.

And there certainly was an explosion, it just happened much sooner than we had expected.

Less than a minute later, Ron and Harry came bustling inside, clomping their feet and tracking water all over the freshly laid out carpets.

“Where could Hermione have gotten off to?” Ron was saying, “She wouldn’t be in-” He stopped abruptly as his eyes landed on Hermione and Fred in their booth. It was really dreadful timing as the pair of them were snogging rather passionately, leaving no question as to the relationship between them.

Ginny cursed under her breath. Ron’s ears grew redder and redder by the second. Harry looked away, embarrassed to have seen one of his best friends kissing his other best friend’s brother.

“Here we go,” I muttered.

“Should we intervene?” Ginny asked.

I shook my head, “They chose not to tell him, it’s time for them to face the music.”

Ron stalked over to the pair, as Harry trailed on behind.

“Wait,” Asked Tracey, “Why is he angry though, like I get that he overreacts, but what exactly does he see as the problem?”

“He’s mad because he likes Granger and because she didn’t tell him.” Draco said, sliding into the booth beside me.

“Precisely.” Ginny said, her eyes trained on the scene that was about unfold before us.

“Really? Hermione! My own brother?” Ron screamed, then he rounded on Fred, “And you! How could you?”

“You don’t even know which twin I am, Ron! Am I Fred or George?” Fred shouted back. “You haven’t got a bloody clue because we’re just Fred and George to you. You haven’t spent a damn second actually paying attention, learning to tell us apart, caring about who we are individually.

“No, we’re always Fred and George, never our own people. There are only four people on this planet that actually care enough to tell the difference: Harry, Emma, Angelina and Hermione.”

“I can tell them apart,” Ginny whispered.

“But if you’d actually been paying attention, you’d know that I’ve liked her since before you were even her friend! You’re a horrible friend and an even worse brother!” Fred hollered.

Ron’s wand came out. In unison Ginny and I stood. “Time to intervene.” I muttered and cast a shield charm between them. Everyone in the bar was staring and they all screamed and ducked for cover when Ron’s jinx hit the charm and ricocheted around before dying off.

Ron cursed under his breath and stalked from the warmth of The Three Broomsticks with a growled, “Come on Harry.”

Harry cast as guilty look towards Hermione and Fred before he said, “I’d better go after him.” And then he darted from the room.

“That went well.” Draco said as I took down my shield charm.

“Tell me about it.” I sighed.

“Do you think your brother is angry with her? I couldn’t tell.” Draco said idly. Then, realizing what he had said, his eyes widened.

‘ _Just play it off_ ,’ I said into his mind, ‘Dean is the only one here who doesn’t know already, and it isn’t a big deal if he finds out.’

“Dean, could you grab me a butterbeer?” Asked Ginny. Dean nodded and walked off.

“You told him the secret?” Ginny asked me in an accusing whisper.

“And me.” Tracey said.

“When?” Questioned Ginny.

“After the second task during the TriWizard Tournament.” I answered.

“And you don’t care?” Ginny asked, turning to face Draco.

Draco shrugged his shoulders, “No, not particularly.”

“Huh.” Ginny said, “Well, then... do you think Harry was angry?”

“No, he doesn’t care. He’s not one to hold grudges.” I said, then when Draco snorted, I amended my statement, “Not about those kinds of things anyway. And especially not when it’s Fred, someone he knows and trusts.” I turned to Draco, smirking, “But if, say, you were the one over there snogging Mione, he might have had a similar reaction to dear Ron.”

Draco grinned ruefully and bumped his hip lightly against mine, “Careful, love, you’re going to wound my pride.”

“Does Harry know that the pair of you are dating?” Ginny asked.

I shrugged, and slowly said, “I mean we haven’t exactly kept it a secret, but I haven’t really told him either.” Then I noticed that Hermione was crying and moved to sit on her other side. “Hey, Mione, he’s an idiot, you know that. But, he’s a consistent idiot, he finds out about something, blows up, doesn’t talk to you for a while and then he gets over it. He’ll come around, he always does. And I know you’re probably thinking about how this time is different, but really it isn’t, because in the end, he wants to be your friend and he wants you to be happy. So, he’ll see reason and see that you doing this wasn’t to hurt him, it was to make you and Fred happy.”

She sniffled and brushed tears out of her eyes, “I know, it’s just... I should have told him.”

“And if you’d told him- if we’d told him, he would have reacted the exact same way.” Fred said.

Suddenly, my attention was snagged by someone in The Three Broomstick’s thoughts. I could hear everyone’s thoughts vaguely, like a low buzzing in the back of my mind, but someone’s thoughts, or rather a single thought, drew my mind.

‘ _Harry Potter has a sister_.’ The single thought echoed over and over in her mind. I pushed away the minds of everyone else until I could only hear hers. I stood and craned my neck until I pinpointed her. She was young, pretty... she didn’t look like a threat. But she knew my secret, so a threat she had become.

I strode over to where she sat alone and settled myself in the seat across from her. I leaned forward against the table, and said, “So, you’ve heard something you weren’t supposed to.”

She remained unfazed, “It would appear as though I have.”

“I have some questions for you.”

“I’m sure you do.”

“Did you go to Hogwarts?” I asked, I could have just searched her mind, but I elected the less invasive route, I would give her the chance to talk to me first.

“Yes.” She said. “I was in Slytherin, started in 1974 and ended in 1981. I was the first muggleborn to ever be in Slytherin house. I was friends with your mum for a while, before she graduated. I wasn’t ever in the Order, but I know about it. Not a death eater either, but that bit should be obvious.”

I squinted at her, “What’s your name?”

“Katya.”

“Okay, Katya, I’m going to trust you with this.” I said, unsure. I’d have to talk to Sal and see if her story matched up with his extensive records. But for now she seemed genuine enough for me to let her leave.

Just as I was about to stand and go, a horrible scream pierced the air from somewhere outside. I shot up and ran from The Three Broomsticks, Draco, Hermione, Fred, Tracey, and Ginny on my heels. Together, we burst outside, into the frigid air to find Katie Bell suspended in midair, her hair flying about her face and her arms spread wide as though she was the subject of some bizarre sacrifice.

Katya was there in an instant, her wand drawn and an incantation already passing through her lips. “Everyone stay back!” She shouted, “It’s a curse!”

And there, lacing Draco’s mind, was guilt.

Shit, Draco, what did you do?


	8. Accusations and Truths

Harry and Ron hadn’t made it very far after storming out of The Three Broomsticks, which left them mere meters away form Katie’s suspended form. One of Katie’s friends, Leanne stood directly below her and from the look on her face, it was clear that she had been the one to scream, not Katie.

“Out of the way!” Hagrid bellowed to the growing crowd of students and they parted for him to run through. He reached Katie the moment Katya had finished lowering her to the ground, and he gently scooped her up and sprinted off towards the castle. Harry darted forward and picked something up from the ground, Katya didn’t seem to notice.

“What happened?” Ginny whispered.

“No idea,” Tracey replied, “Do you think she’ll be okay? Some curses can be deadly.”

The guilt in Draco’s mind amplified. I caught his hand in my own and muttered, “Come on, let’s go back to the castle.” Hesitantly, he let me lead him out of the crowd and towards the castle.

‘What happened?’ I asked him silently.

Slowly he shook his head.

‘Draco...’

‘Emma, don’t.’ Draco warned.

‘Come on, just trust me.’ I coaxed.

‘I do trust you. That isn’t what this is about.’

‘Just tell me, we both know that I’ll figure it out eventually, even if you don’t.’

‘Please, just leave it alone.’

‘No, just tell me why you put a curse on Katie Bell. What has she got to do with Voldemort’s plans?’

I felt his mind flinch at my use of Voldemort’s name, so I dropped it.

***

When we got back to the castle, McGonagall was waiting for us. “You two, did you witness what happened to Hogsmeade?”

I shook my head, “We were in The Three Broomsticks when we heard someone scream. We ran out and Katie was suspended midair, some witch got her down and then Hagrid brought her here.”

McGonagall nodded, but before she could say anything else, Ginny, Tracey, Harry and Ron appeared at the entrance. “What did you do to her?” Screamed Harry, launching himself at Draco.

Draco leapt back as McGonagall cried, “Potter! That is quite enough, now what are you talking about?”

“He cursed her, I know he did!” Harry said through gritted teeth.

I rolled my eyes and hissed at him, “You’re a real prat sometimes. Why the hell would Draco curse Katie, he doesn’t even know her.”

“She’s on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.” Harry said, “And we have a game against Slytherin coming up.”

“Oh my god, Harry, you think Draco would do that... over Quidditch?” I snapped.

“And he’s a death eater!” Harry burst.

Terror flared up in Draco again. ‘It’s fine, he doesn’t know anything.’ I attempted at reassurance.

‘Yes, but if McGonagall asks me to pull up my sleeve...’ Draco’s voice, even his internal one sounded frantic.

“That is a very serious allegation Mr. Potter!” McGonagall said shrilly, but I noticed that her face had gone a shade paler than usual.

“What is going on here?” Asked Snape in his usual drawl, rounding a corner.

“Mr. Potter has just accused Mr. Malfoy of being a death eater.” McGonagall said softly, though her voice remained harsh.

“Miss. Weasley, Miss Davis, move along.” They hesitated for a moment before hurrying off. Once they were gone, Snape continued, “I can assure you that he is not a death eater, if he was, I would know.” Harry opened his mouth and then closed it again.

“There’s a simple way to find out,” Ron said, “See if he has a dark mark, Hermione said they can’t be covered or hidden by magic.”

“This is ridiculous,” Draco scoffed, “I’m not a death eater.”

“Then prove it.” Ron growled. And damn me, in that moment I was ready to attack him for those words, for that challenge. And then Draco was reaching for his sleeve, sliding it up his arm, both of us knew what they would see there.

I did something truly desperate, something that I wasn’t sure could possibly work.

I had no faith that it would.

I did it anyway.

I threw my consciousness into their minds and altered their minds interpretations of what their eyes were seeing. I made them think that they were seeing pale skin, blank. Draco looked up, as though to gage their reactions, trying to determine whether he would have to fight of flee. Confusion swept over him when all he saw was stark disappointment on Harry’s face, surprise on Snape’s and mild exasperation on everyone else’s.

“But-” Harry started, but I cut him off.

“Really, you’re seeing the evidence and yet you still think he’s a death eater?” I hissed.

“Well, he doesn’t have to be marked to carry out Voldemort’s wishes.” Harry argued.

“This is absurd,” Draco said, tugging his sleeve back down. I relaxed, releasing their minds. A wave of fatigue hit me so hard that my legs nearly gave out. My head spun and I could hardly breathe. As my vision began to spot and blur, I felt myself falling.

Warm arms caught me before I hit the ground, my name a worried call slipping past his lips. And then the world was gone as my mind shut off.

***

I didn’t awake all at once. My mind came around before my body did. It was an odd sensation, like I was a ghost, floating about the castle, no longer bound to my body. Only, I couldn’t see, except for though the eyes of the other students and teachers.

Through Madam Pomfrey’s mind, I was able to see my body, laid down on a cot in the hospital wing. A simple scan of her thoughts told me that I was in a coma. But how? She didn’t seem to know the answer. So, I moved on, there was Harry and Hermione, huddled together in the library. I was glad to see he wasn’t angry with her, but it didn’t negate my anger towards him for his animosity towards Draco. I left both of their minds alone as I searched for my boyfriend. It wasn’t hard to find him, his mind was most recognizable to me, after all. He was in Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid and Daphne. Of all of the sixth years, the three of us had been the only ones to continue on with the subject.

Draco was cupping something small and golden in his hands, it resembled a snitch, but Draco was holding it far too gently for it to be one. I flitted into his thoughts and found that it was in fact a baby Snidget. Snidgets were the little birds for which snitches were based upon, they were sweet little things, but incredibly shy.

Latte, it would seem, had followed Draco down to Hagrid’s hut because he was trying to swat one of the other Snidgets out of the air. I moved into Daphne’s mind and saw that Saffron, Rogue and Callisto were settled on Draco’s shoulder. I grew curious about my other two, Honey and Emmett and left Hagrid, Draco and Daphne to look for them. After several minutes I found Honey in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, where Snape was teaching third year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. None of them seemed to be too fond of her, many pulling up their feet when she slithered a little too close to them.

Somehow, Emmett had found his way into Dumbledore’s quarters. Much to my surprise, Gellert Grindelwald was playing with him, pulling a string hither and thither for Emmett to pounce on. I laughed, I couldn’t help it, the sight was just so bizarre and-

Suddenly I was torn from Grindelwald’s mind and I was back in my own body... awake. I gasped and sat up, coughing a little. Madam Pomfrey came bustling over to me, a potion in hand, “Here honey, drink this.”

“What is it?” I asked, hesitantly taking the vial from her.

“It’ll calm your nerves.” She replied.

I held it out for her to take, “I don’t need it, I’m perfectly calm, thank you very much.”

She squinted at me and asked, “What happened, before you fell into the coma. Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall both said you were fine one moment and then the next you just collapsed. You went into the coma due to lack of sleep, your body was utterly exhausted, like you hadn’t slept in three weeks, but Mr. Malfoy said your hadn’t complained about tiredness and you had always seemed well rested.”

I shrugged and answered, “I have been sleeping. I felt fine and then just suddenly I felt really faint. I have no idea what happened.” That was a blatant lie, but I wasn’t going to tell her that I exhausted myself by altering the thoughts of four people and physically changing what they saw via my own mind. “How long have I been out?”

“Three days.” She replied curtly, she surely knew I wasn’t telling her the whole story, but she didn’t comment on it.

I sighed in relief, the last time I had had gone into a coma, I’d been out for a month, three days seemed like nothing compared to that. “Can I go? I’m sure I’ve got loads of work to catch up on.”

“Not quite yet.” She said, “Your guardians need to be informed that you have awoken, and they will, I am sure, want to talk to you.”

I sighed and laid back down.

***

Sirius and Remus showed up twenty minutes later, thrilled to see me awake.

“What happened?” Asked Remus as Madam Pomfrey left the room to give us some space.

“I dunno,” I said, shrugging again, and changed the subject. “There was actually something I have been meaning to ask you.”

“Yeah?” Sirius asked.

“Was my dad nice?” I asked quietly.

“James? Yeah, of course. He was a great laugh.” Sirius said brightly.

“No, not a laugh, nice, like really truly nice.” I said, regaining my normal volume.

And I knew it was an invasion of their privacy, but I needed to know, needed to see. So, I slipped into their minds and looked to the forefront of their memories, anything stirred up by my question.

_A young Sirius, James and Peter were huddled together at a table in the library, pouring over dozens of books that had been strewn about. Sirius gasped and said in a hushed whisper, “I think Remus is a werewolf.” James stood and moved to look at what Sirius had just read._

_After a moment, he nodded and said, “It fits. He’s got to be, I think you’re right.”_

“He’s a werewolf?” Stuttered Peter in disbelief, an involuntary shutter coursing through his body.

_“And he let us be his friend and lied to us? All this time, he’s been that... that... thing!” Sirius said, a tad to loudly, growing angry at the thought._

_“Snap out of it, you two!” James hissed, “Remus is our friend, no matter if he is a werewolf or not. He’s probably scared that we’d abandon him if we knew, but we won’t, right?”_

_Sirius and Peter said nothing._

_“He is our friend! Come on! I mean, he’s Remus! He writes down everything the teachers say in class, he always puts jam on his toast, he can’t sleep without socks on, he can’t tie a tie for the life of him and when he’s nervous, he worries at the sleeves of his robes. He’s our Remus, not some dangerous beast!” James argued._

_Finally, Sirius and Peter began to come around, nodding slowly._

_Remus had had a terrible full moon, he was exhausted and everything hurt. His head pounded and he thought that if he moved, he’d throw up. And_ _on top of it all, he was worried about his classes, what if he’d missed important notes? What if he failed his exams because he hadn’t been there today?_

_He checked the time. It was too late, everyone would be gathered in the Great Hall now for dinner and he was stuck, alone in the hospital wing. Unless he counted Madam Pomfrey... which he didn’t. She was in her office now anyway. Remus sighed and resigned himself to spend the night alone._

_But then, James strode in grinning broadly. “Hey Rems!” He settled a stack of papers on the bedside table. “Those are the notes from today. History of Magic is on top and it goes in order, I tried to make it match the rest of your notes, let me know if there’s anything you can’t read and here’s dinner.” He gently placed a large plate on Remus’s lap._

_Sirius leaned into Remus, kissing him lazily. Peter and James would be in detention all night, so they had the dorm room to themselves. They weren’t out to anyone yet, not even their friends, they weren’t ready to be. Neither of them were really sure how their friends would feel if they found out. It had taken Sirius a long time to even get to this point, for years he had tried to push that part of himself down, only for it to boil over when he’d least expected it._

_Hours passed, but to Sirius, it felt like minutes. So, when James waltzed in, he was laying on his bed, Remus on top of him. James cursed loudly and covered his eyes. Remus scrambled up and off of the bed, clearly embarrassed. But Sirius... Sirius was terrified, terrified that he was about to lose his best friend. Sure James had taken Remus’s ‘furry little problem’ in stride, but this was something else entirely._

_“Prongs?” He asked softly._

_James uncovered his eyes, clearly he could see the fear in Sirius’s eyes because he said, “Pads? Moons? Are you like a thing?”_

_Sirius gulped and offered a minute nod, he couldn’t bear to look James in the eyes. And then the bed was shifting and James’s arm was wrapped around Sirius’s shoulders. “Hey, Pads, look I don’t care. You’re together... so what?” He turned to Remus, “Really. You don’t need to be scared, or_ _embarrassed.” He paused for a moment, running his hands through his hair and then added, “Just don’t go having sex while I’m in here, yeah?”_

_Sirius grinned._

_Sirius’s face shown with all of the guilt that Remus knew Sirius was surely feeling, but that didn’t stop Remus’s anger at what Sirius had done. James had been the one to tell him, in the hospital wing, after his full moon. First he had been in disbelief, then shock filled him, followed by betrayal and finally; rage. Sirius had nearly made him kill someone. And even if it was Snape, he was still a person and if not for James, Remus would be a murderer. His life would’ve been over, all because his boyfriend was reckless and incapable of using his head._

_Remus was so angry, so incredibly angry that for the first time, he could feel the essence of the wolf, he wanted to rip Sirius apart, to hurt him, just as Sirius had hurt him. James was the only reason Snape was alive. James hadn’t only saved Snape, he’d saved Remus._

_Sirius was getting kicked out of the house and James was taking him in like it was no big deal._

_James was telling Sirius, Peter and Remus that he thought they ought to lay off of Snape._

_James was helping a random first year in the hall find his way to class._

_Over and over, it was a million little things._

I smiled and said, “Never mind, I know he was.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! In the future (the very distant future) I was thinking I might write a Marauders fanfiction. Would y’all be interested in seeing that? Let me know in the comments!


	9. Gramps

_“She hates me!” James said. His hair was more tousled than usual and he seemed genuinely upset._

_“James, she doesn’t hate you. She wants to see their best memories of you, to reassure herself that you aren’t the person she saw in Severus’s memory.”_

_“But I was that person.”_

_“And you’re not anymore.”_

_“It doesn’t matter what I am now, I’m dead.”_

_“It matters to her.” James sighed and sat down, holding his head in his hands._

_“I’m just so... ashamed, I mean we were awful- I was awful- to Snape and he, he’s still protecting them, putting himself in danger for them, for everyone and all that time I thought he was evil.”_

_“You’ve both changed.” Lily said._

***

I was allowed to leave the hospital wing in time for dinner in the Great Hall, but with all of Sirius and Remus’s fussing, I was a tad late. So, when I walked in, everyone else was already seated. I was glad to see that a space was open between Draco and Daphne, as though they had been reserving it in the hopes that I would show up. I slid easily into the space and Draco wrapped an arm around me.

“Hey love, feeling better?” He asked, kissing my forehead.

“Never better,” I replied.

‘ _Salazar says you pushed your mind too far, you wren’t ready to do magic that advanced, that’s why you passed out. He told me to tell you that you can’t go on doing stuff like that, it can be very damaging to your brain, Em. And really, don’t hurt yourself to protect me_.’ Draco’s voice was urgent.

“Is Katie Bell alright?” I asked. “She wasn’t in the hospital wing.”

“That’s because she’s in St. Mungo’s, still out, but she got lucky, they expect she’ll make a full recovery.” Pansy said, spooning some potatoes onto my plate. “Eat something, you’re so thin.”

Daphne handed me a roll, “What she said.” I stared down at the food, I wasn’t really all that hungry.

Draco sighed, “Here.” He reached across the table and started picking strawberries out of the fruit bowl. Whenever I wasn’t in the mood for eating, strawberries always did the trick.

As I ate them, Draco continued to put more on my plate and casually said, “Your brother thinks that I knocked you out.”

I snorted, “That doesn’t really fit into his whole idea that you’re after the Gryffindor Quidditch team.”

“So what did happen?” Asked Daphne.

I shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe I was dehydrated.”

Pansy pointed her fork at me accusingly, “You don’t go into a coma for three days from dehydration.”

“You haven’t been eating, have you?” Daphne asked, as though she already knew my answer.

“Of course I’ve been eating!” I said. And it was true, only, after ten years of getting scraps, my stomach just couldn’t hold as much as most peoples.

Blaise piped in, “Em, you’re thinner than usual though.”

I glowered at him and picked up my roll.

***

I was walking to Defense Against the Dark Arts with Draco when I saw Leanne making her way towards the dungeons, alone. I stopped walking. “Go on to class, I’ll catch up.” Draco gave me an odd look before nodding and heading off to class. “Hey, Leanne!” I called out and she paused.

“Oh, hi, Emma, right?”

“Yeah, how’s Katie?”

“No change, but the healers say that that’s good.”

“What happened, do you know how she got the necklace?”

“We were heading back to the castle when Katie said she needed the bathroom, so she popped into the Three Broomsticks for a moment, and when she came back, she had it with her. She just kept saying she needed to bring it to Dumbledore. She wouldn’t tell me who she got it from and she was acting all funny. I bet she was under the imperius curse.” Leanne said.

“She wanted to bring it to Dumbledore?” I asked, as everything clicked into place in my head.

“Yes, she said Dumbledore needed to touch it.”

“Thank you, for telling me.”

She nodded and I hurried off to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

“What are you so smug about?” Draco asked.

“I know what you’re supposed to do.” I said.

He raised his eyebrows skeptically, “If you know, then why do you look so happy about it?”

Because Dumbledore is dying anyway, cursed. But I didn’t tell Draco that. I didn’t say anything at all.

“Emma.” Draco said, wanting an answer. Still, I remained silent. “Emma!”

“Mr. Malfoy, I would ask you to refrain from disrupting my class, unless there is something you’d like to share with the class.” Snape deadpanned. Draco’s ears turned red and he looked down.

“Sorry, professor.” He muttered. ‘Seriously, Emma, why are you so happy?’

***

“Enter.” Dumbledore called and I strode into Dumbledore’s office. “Ah, Emma, what a pleasant surprise.”

“I have something to tell you.” I said.

“Do you now?”

“It’s about Katie Bell... and er- you. But, if I tell you, you have to promise that you won’t... that you won’t expel anyone.” I said.

Dumbledore scrutinized me for a long moment before he said, “Alright, I promise I won’t expel anyone.”

I sighed and gathered my courage, “Draco is a death eater and Voldemort wants him to kill you. Katie was supposed to bring you the necklace, only Leanne got in her way. But Draco doesn’t want to do it, he only is trying because Voldemort threatened to kill his parents if he doesn’t kill you first. And he keeps disappearing somewhere, so I think he has another plan, and the necklace was just a little side plan. And Draco doesn’t know that I’m here.”

Dumbledore smiled at me, “Thank you for telling me. I actually already know though, Professor Snape has told me everything you have just said.”

“Oh.” I felt stupid, of course Snape had told him, Snape was a spy, greatly trusted by Voldemort, obviously he’d know the plan.

“However, Draco won’t tell Professor Snape any of the plan. See, Draco has concocted it entirely on his own. If you could figure out what he’s up to, that would be incredibly helpful, he trusts you.” Dumbledore said gently.

I nodded slowly, then my attention shifted to Dumbledore’s blackened hand, “And what is happening with that?”

“Nothing has changed, it’s still cursed, there is no cure, I’ll be dead by the end of this year.”

“And Grindelwald? Is he still here?”

“Yes.” He said.

As though on cue, Grindelwald came out of Dumbledore’s chambers. “Emma is it?”

“Indeed,” I said, a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth. “And you’re Gellert Grindelwald, second darkest wizard to ever walk the earth?”

Grindelwald laughed, “I suppose that’s what they say. But, I think I just had a rebellious faze.”

Dumbledore rolled his eyes, “A couple of rebellious decades would be more like it.” And in that moment, he looked fifty years younger.

“So what, we’ve got two of the most powerful wizards alive and neither of you can figure out a way to reverse this curse?” I asked.

“We’re working on it.” Grindelwald said, sobering instantly.

***

After I left them, I headed down to the chamber of secrets.

“Ah, Emma, glad to see that you’re awake. Draco was quite worried.” Salazar said. The tension in the room was palpable.

“You made me your heir. Why?” I asked, skipping past any hollow greetings.

“You know why, you heard the prophecy.”

“Yes but, you chose to fulfill it! All this time, you’ve only been alive because you were waiting for me to come along, so you could make me your heir!”

“I don’t deny it.”

“Do you know how crazy that sounds?” I asked, nearly shouting now. Salazar shrugged. I sighed, annoyed, but knew I wouldn’t get an answer from him. “Fine, then. Tell me about Katya.”

“Katya, yes, she was in my house. Went to Hogwarts from 1974 to 1981, I think. First muggleborn to ever be a Slytherin after the whole debacle with your mum. She was-”

“Hang on, what ‘whole debacle’ with my mum?” I asked.

“You know, how she was supposed to be in Slytherin, but when I first created the house, I’d said no muggleborns allowed in. And every time a muggleborn was meant to be in my house, I’d know. And I never regretted not letting them in... until your mother. She was brilliant and I wanted her in my house, so I revoked my original restriction, but it was too late, she’d already been sorted into Godric’s house. But then, just a few years later, another brilliant muggleborn witch who belonged in my house came along, and my house was open for her. That was Katya, of course. Everyone liked her, your mum knew her. See, they were both in the Slug club.”

“So, I can trust her?” I asked.

“I think so.” He said, nearly instantly.

“And what about my abilities? Why is it that sometimes it’s as though thoughts and memories are screaming at me, and then other times, I enter the minds of a few for less than a minute and then go into a coma?” I asked.

“Because you are using two very different skills. In the first instance you are using Legilimency, though you may not intend to do so. Meanwhile, in the second instance, you are attempting to alter the way the mind perceives information. Doing that, for even a moment is far more difficult that even changing memories. The fact that you were even able to do it is amazing. It took me years to manage. Which just proves that you were the right pick for my heir.” Salazar said, grinning.

I sighed, a sound filled with exasperation and said, “Fine, but I’m calling you Gramps from here on out.”

He snorted, actually snorted.

***

After Muggle Studies, Hermione, Draco and I were walking together and discussing the practicality of dishwashers, Hermione stopped dead in her tracks. After a few faltering steps, Draco and I stopped too. “What?” Draco inquired, both of us turning back to look at her.

I followed her gaze to see Ron wrapped around one of the other Gryffindor girls in our year, Lavender Brown. They were locked in a very passionate kiss. I scrunched my nose and turned away. “Must they really do that in the middle of the corridor?” I scoffed, disgusted. Then laughing, I added, “Mione, if you weren’t dating Fred, I’d suggest you and Draco start making out right next to them, that’d get their attention.”

Both of them laughed. Shaking her head, Hermione muttered, “That’s why he’s doing, you know, because I’m dating Fred. He’s pissed off, so he’s trying to get back at me.”

“That’s just petty,” I groaned, annoyed by the childishness of it all.

Just then, Ginny strode up to us, out of nowhere, apparently oblivious to the scene unfolding just to her right.

“Emma, Mione, I need to talk to you.” She said. Her eyes were wide and urgency rang through her tone.

“Yeah, of course.” I promised, passing off my bag to Draco and offering his hand a light squeeze.

The three of us parted from Draco and crossed into a deserted classroom. “What’s up?” Hermione asked.

“So, I was dating Dean right? And well something just felt wrong. And well, something has always felt a little wrong... but then- and I... well, we’ve split up and... I haven’t got a thing for blokes.” She rambled, so fast it was nearly unintelligible.

“So what? You like girls then?” I asked. She nodded frantically, as though it was some wretched secret, something that required confessing and atonement.

Hermione smiled gently, “Ginny... I know and I don’t care.”

Ginny’s shoulders relaxed, in fact, all the tension seemed to drain from her body.

“I didn’t know, but I don’t care either.” I piped in.

And Ginny beamed at the pair of us.

“Thank you both, so much.” Ginny whispered.


	10. Slug Club

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Thanksgiving!!!! (To everyone who celebrates it, and to those of you who don’t: have a great day!) 
> 
> I know it has been a while since I’ve been able to post a chapter for this, so I hope you like it. I hope to get one more chapter out over the next three days, but no promises. (Life just keeps throwing me curveballs) But thank you all for the support you’ve given me, despite the sporadic updates. Love you all and enjoy!

I felt horrible for doing it, but I knew that following Draco was the only way I would be able to find out what he was doing- find out how to help him. And within the week I had my answer. Or rather, one answer. With that answer came about a million more questions.

Every time he disappeared, he was going to the Room of Requirement, with Crabbe and Goyle of all people. But what he was doing once inside, I had no clue. I was lurking around the entrance one day, pacing back and forth and trying to figure my way in when I ran smack into someone.

Someone invisible...

Someone whose grunt of pain sounded an awful lot like- “Harry?”

The air ahead of me shimmered a bit before before Harry’s head began to appear, seemingly out of nothing. Then his shoulders, and his torso, and Hermione beside him.

“What are you doing?” I asked them.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Harry has convinced himself that Draco is in there.” She nodded towards the blank wall, that if used correctly, would reveal the Room of Requirement. “Doing something evil.”

I laughed, “I can assure you, he isn’t. I’ve just left him in the common room.”

“Then what are you doing up here?” Harry asked accusingly.

Thinking fast, I produced the Marauder’s Map. “I need to hide this, see, Crabbe and Goyle caught a glimpse of it and they’ve been trying to steal it ever since. It’s not Draco you should be worried about, Har, those two want to be death eaters, watch out for them.”

Harry was still skeptical. “Well why haven’t you been able to get in then?”

I shrugged, “Dunno, I’ll just try again then.”

I paced back and forth a couple of times, thinking of nothing that would open the room.

Then I tried again.

And again.

And again.

I need a place to hide my map.

I need a place to hide my map.

I need a place to hide my map.

A door appeared.

I grinned. Here was my way inside, to Draco. But Harry and Hermione were still here, I couldn’t lead them straight to him. There was nothing else for it, I pushed open the door and stepped inside. It took everything in me to prevent the gasp that tried to force its way out of me. Before us was the largest room I had ever seen. The ceilings were six stories high at the very minimum and stretched off into the far distance. So easily, one wrong turn, and I could be lost in this place forever. For, taking up nearly all of the space, were piles- no, mountains- of long since forgotten or forbidden items. Trash and treasure mixed alike, all things hidden.

Softly, Hermione tugged the door behind us shut. I felt as though silence was necessary. Like one single sound and everything would come crashing down around us.

I pushed out my mind and found Draco, he wasn’t far, only a few hundred meters away, ahead and a little to the left. I started forward, but Hermione grabbed my arm. “Careful or you might never find your way out.” She warned.

I nodded and continued on my way.

Behind me, I could hear Hermione talking to Harry. “Even if he did manage to get in here without Emma knowing...” Her voice was becoming muffled as I turned into a tight alleyway lined with junk. “... never be able to find him...” I had to shuffle sideways to get through without jostling anything. “... is huge, I mean...” Hermione’s voice was completely lost to me now, but it didn’t matter. This was my chance, I was so close to Draco, so close to finding out what he was up to.

I made it out of the alleyway and into a larger open space, like a clearing of sorts. I spun around in a circle, searching for any sign of Draco. I could feel him moving away from me, and worse yet, I could feel him blocking me from his mind. He knew I was here. “Lumos.” I murmured, the deeper I went, the darker it became. I was just about to move on, into an alley about the same width as a corridor, when something glinting caught my eye. I drew nearer and saw that it was a candelabra, long and elegant. It would do nicely. “Incendio!” I hissed, and in an instant, the old candles caught flame.

As I continued on my way, I collected a few other things that pulled at my attention. A battered camera that resembled the one Rita Skeeter had, a fairly new looking owl cage (Tambor needed one anyway), a shiny tiara, and a toad carved from wood. I shrunk each item before placing them in my pocket to bring back to mine and Draco’s room.

Draco! I nearly forgotten about him, about why I was here at all.

I shook my head to focus myself and with renewed purpose, I set off into the depths of the room once more.

After an hour of searching, I resigned myself to admitting I couldn’t find him. Which forced me to come to terms with the fact that I was lost. Groaning, I shot a thought into Draco’s mind. ‘I’m lost.’

I could feel his responding laughter before he began to instruct me on how to get out. Begrudgingly I followed and found him waiting for me, lounging against the doorframe. “You know, a good way to avoid getting lost it to stop snooping.” He whispered into my hair.

“Or you could just tell me what you’re up to,” I suggested.

He shook his head, exasperated with me for the umpteenth time.

Just then, Hermione emerged from an alleyway to my right. She faltered a step, surprised to have seen us. “Draco, you’d better go before Harry sees and thinks this is evidence to fuel his ridiculous conspiracy theories.” She said, glancing over her shoulder. “I’m not entirely sure what’s taking him so long.” And without another word, she disappeared back in the direction from which she had come.

“Come on, let’s go.” I muttered and tugged Draco out of the room and back into the corridor beyond.

***

The night before the Hogwarts Express was to depart for the holidays, I received an invitation for Slughorn’s Christmas party. I sighed and read it over once more. I would get a plus one, but I doubted that Draco would want to come with me, he was far to consumed with trying to find a way to do whatever it was he was doing. I was tempted to skip the party and return to the room of hidden things, but I knew it would be a foolish waste of time. That room was endless, there was no chance of me discovering what Draco was up to, at least not while he wasn’t inside.

So, I sidled up to Daphne a few hours before it was set to begin and asked her to join me. She agreed instantly, though I suspected it had something to do with the fact that Harry had also been invited.

***

“Why don’t you just ask him out already?” I asked Daphne as we walked to the party.

“Right, like you’re one to give dating advice.” Daphne scoffed. “You’ve never dealt with any of this. I mean you and Draco just sort of landed in each other’s laps. Like everything was just sort of perfect for the two of you. And I don’t think you realize, Emma, that doesn’t happen for the rest of us.”

I rolled my eyes, “All I’m hearing right now are excuses.”

She sighed as we kept walking. “Do you think I stand a chance?”

I shrugged, “I haven’t spoken to him all term, so I haven’t got a clue, but there is only one way to find out.” I nudged her and she laughed. “You’ve got to ask him, before someone else does.”

“Well who’s he going with tonight?” Daphne asked.

“Rumor has it that he invited Luna. They’re good friends with one another, I think.”

Sure enough, twenty minutes later, I spotted Luna by Harry’s side amidst the throng of people. And there, a little to Harry’s left was... Katya.

“Ah, Emma,” Slughorn said from over my shoulder, making me jump. “You’re enjoying the party, I take it?”

“Oh, yes, certainly. It is quite lovely.” I said, craning my neck to see what Katya was doing.

Slughorn followed my gaze and said, “That’s Katya Solis, she was a student of mine, perhaps even as brilliant as your mother, I imagine they would have been good friends. I’d like you to meet her actually, she was skilled in all of her classes, not only potions. She works a bit in alchemy now, but she’s an auror of sorts, though she refuses to be a part of the ministry, despite everything I have told her.” With everything he said, I began to like Katya more and more.

Slughorn called to Katya and she strode over. “Katya, this is a student of mine, Emma, and Emma this is Katya.”

Katya held out a hand, “Good to meet you, Katya.”

“So Emma, after Hogwarts, what do you plan to do?” Slughorn asked. I knew what he was trying to do, it was rather clever and might have even worked, except for-

I turned and looked him full in the face. “There’s a war going on, even if you’re too pampered here in the castle to notice. My life is on pause ‘til I’ve seen it through.”

Katya laughed and turned to see her grinning. “This one,” She said, pointing at me, “Has her priorities straight.” Then something behind me caught her attention. “Is that Severus?” I turned around and sure enough, Snape was a ways back, talking quietly with Professor Trelawney.

“Oh yeah, he’s my head of house and the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year. Up until this year, he’s been the potions master though.” I said.

She was looking at him with an odd expression. “I was under the impression that he was a death eater.” She said softly.

“He was.” I said, “Still got the mark and everything.”

“What changed his mind.” She asked me. I shrugged, playing innocent. “But then, how can you be sure that he’s really changed his mind at all?”

“He has.” I said, of that I was sure. Never again would Snape side with Voldemort. Katya looked terribly worried and for some reason that annoyed me. In my book, Snape was one of the people who I could count on most. He was like a father to me, though I would never say it aloud, lest it get back to Sirius and Remus.

“How are you so confident?” She asked.

I shrugged again, “For the past four and a half years he has been my head of house and I have never once gotten the impression that he had anything besides our best interests in mind. I believe you would know why any true death eaters would be my enemy,” I said pointedly, “And my Sneakoscope has never once gone off in Snape’s presence.”

I really needed to dig out that old Sneakoscope, I hadn’t utilized its abilities in years. It could be useful now, with everything that was happening. Katya was lost in thought, contemplating something.

“You know,” I began, leaning forward conspiratorially, “You could just go and talk to him, instead of staring.”

She shook her head and trained her gaze on some far off spot. “I wasn’t staring.”

“Right,” I drawled, squinting at her. “Well if you won’t go talk to him, then I will.”

I strode over to where Snape stood. He looked incredibly bored and I realized why the moment I remembered who he was talking to. Trelawney might have been a great teacher with an affinity for consulting the inner eye, but she really was a rather dull conversationalist.

“I have been looking to the stars rather frequently and consulting the cards, and no matter how I look at it, something terrible is coming, conflict, the lightning struck tower...” She trailed off briefly as Snape nodded absentminded, his eyes were glazed, but even he was too polite to simply walk away from her. She came back to herself with startling intensity, “But Dumbledore won’t listen! Personally I think he is a nonbeliever, who heeds little warning from the seers. It is very offensive, if I do say so myself.”

“I’ve noticed that too.” I cut in. “Perhaps Dumbledore hasn’t any sort of gift with the inner eye.” I suggested. “I’ve noticed that he doesn’t hold any merit with those subjects for which he’s weak.”

“Ah, if it isn’t my most prized pupil. Now, Severus, she is more gifted than the majority of my other students. She certainly has a strong connection with her inner eye.” Trelawney said, nodding importantly.

“Does she now?” Snape asked, raising an eyebrow at me. “I was unaware.”

“What can I say? I’m full of surprises.” I joked. Just then, I felt Katya’s presence join us, just behind me, and slightly to my right.

“Oh, professor, this is Katya,” I gestured towards her. “She was in Slytherin too, a few years below you, she knew my mum.” At my last words, Snape’s head snapped up. “Katya, professors Snape and Trelawney.” I motioned to each of them in turn.

“Emma!” Daphne called, running over to me and grabbing my arm. She dragged me away from the adults.

“What?” I asked, once we were out of their earshot.

“Filch has caught Draco, he was by the Room of Requirement. He’s bringing him here.” She looked panicked. She deserved more credit than I’d given her. She knew that something was up with him, even if she didn’t say anything.

“Shit,” I groaned. “Distract Harry, I’ll handle it.”

She nodded and disappeared back into the crowd. I returned to Snape just as Filch dragged Draco in.

“I caught him lurking about the castle, after curfew.” Flinch (or whatever the hell his name was) spat, shoving Draco forward. He stumbled a little, annoyed at being caught. I glanced over to Harry and saw that he was distracted, deep in conversation with Luna and Daphne. Good. Then someone else caught my eye, Hermione. She hadn’t missed this new development. I met her gaze and gave her a look, silently pleading her to keep from telling Harry about this. “He should be expelled for this!”

Snape rolled his eyes. “I am his head of house, Argus. It is up to be to decide any punishment.”

Suddenly Hermione stood and strode over. “Sorry, er, professor, I invited him, to be my plus one.”

I smiled at her efforts, though I was sure Snape wouldn’t believe her, but Flinch wouldn’t know any better. After all he put no efforts into trying to get to know the students. Snape looked at her skeptically but didn’t question it. “Right, well you heard her.” Snape said, waving a hand dismissively.

“But-” Flinch spluttered, “That doesn’t explain why he’s so late!”

“Does it really matter?” Asked Snape sighing, “It’s the holidays. Don’t you have better things to do?”

Flinch glared as though he meant to light Snape on fire, but eventually he stalked off. Once he was gone, Snape turned on Draco and said, “We both know you weren’t invited here by Granger, and Evans brought Greengrass. Don’t go lurking about the corridors at this time of night.”

Draco walked over to be, looking a little embarrassed. I wrapped an arm around his shoulder and bumped my hip lightly into his. “You’re an idiot, you know that, letting Flinch catch you like that.”

“Filch.”

“That’s what I said. And anyway, don’t change the subject on me.” His eyes met mine and he grinned. “Ready to tell me what you’re up to yet?”

He shook his head. “Given up on figuring it out yourself yet?”

“Not quite.”

“Why not just stop?” I pleaded with him. “They can’t hurt you here.”

“They’ve got my mum, and they can get to my father anytime, they’ll kill them both, I can’t risk it.” He mumbled.

I sighed. “Tell Dumbledore, he’ll help you-” But Draco was withdrawing from me, so I changed tactics. “You’re not going home for Christmas, are you?”

He shook his head. “I’m going to keep working on fixing it. I think they’ll be less inclined to hurt her if I’m not there.”

“Fixing it.” I muttered, more to myself than to him. And then louder, “You’re trying to fix something.”

He glared at me, “Let it go, Emma.”

I shook my head. “Sorry, love, I can’t.” I whispered and kissed him softly. “Come home with me?”

His eyes softened and his voice was barely a whisper. “You know I can’t.”

***

Much earlier than I would have cared to be awake, I went up to Dumbledore’s office. The train would be leaving in less than two hours, which didn’t give me much time to talk with Dumbledore and Grindelwald.

“I have an update on Draco’s mission.” I said, passing by any pretense. Dumbledore gestured for me to continue, with his dead and blacken hand. He sat behind his desk, Grindelwald leaned against it, his arms crossed.

“There is a special room in this school, you actually mentioned it once. It appeared to you as a bathroom, you spoke of it at the Yule Ball, I think. But anyway, it appears to different people as different things, depending on what that particular person needs in that moment. Of course it cannot provide the five principal exceptions to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration, but everything else is fair game. It was the room we used for the DA to meet last year. Anyway, this year Draco has been disappearing into it quite often. I was able to get inside one of the times and found that for him, it was appearing as the Room of Hidden Things.”

Upon seeing their confused expressions, I added, “It’s a room people have stashed their forbidden things in for years. It’s bigger than anything I have ever seen, bigger than all of King’s Cross Station, I’d imagine and it’s a labyrinth. And last night Draco accidentally let it slip to me that he’s trying to fix something in there. I don’t know what it is yet, but I will find out. I’m going home for the holidays, I’ve got a godson to look after, but once I’m back, I’ll find out what he’s trying to fix in there.”

Grindelwald began pacing back and forth around me. “And he was the one who gave Bell the cursed necklace.” I nodded. “Be careful, Emma, he’s clearly desperate and scared, which will only make him more dangerous.”

“He did not sign up to go home for the holidays.” Dumbledore remarked.

“No, he thought that if the death eaters heard how little progress he had made, they’d hurt his mum.” I said, massaging my temples.

“Has he been communicating with them?” Grindelwald asked.

“Not that I know of, but I can’t be sure.” I said. Just another unknown. I wished he would talk to me.

“I‘ll watch him, try to keep him out of too much trouble.” Dumbledore said softly.

It did little to reassure me.


	11. Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite this chapter being called Christmas, there’s actually no exchange of gifts mentioned... oop
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

I felt guilty for leaving Draco behind and the entire train ride back to platform nine and three quarters was spent with me contemplating returning to him in the castle.

The beginning of the holiday would be spent at Grimmauld Place with Sirius, Remus and Teddy, then we’d head over to the burrow for the actual festivities. Ron was rather glum that Harry wouldn’t be joining him straight off, likely because neither Fred nor George were speaking to him, Ginny was rather cross with him (she thought he was being pigheaded), Molly was more irritable than usual with Fleur around, Arthur was busier than ever, Percy was gone, and Bill and Charlie were rarely home. Hermione and Ron still weren’t speaking, so she’d opted to come with us to Grimmauld Place and then accompany us to the burrow.

Sirius and Remus were at the station when we arrived, Teddy propped on Sirius’ hip. I hugged each of them in turn. Despite having a baby under their care, Remus and Sirius looked better than I’d ever seen them, healthy, happy. I took Teddy from Sirius and his hair immediately turned to perfectly match mine. I snorted and muttered, “Did you miss me, Teddy?”

He just looked at me with those big gray eyes of his. They reminded me startlingly of Draco’s. I supposed that made sense though, they were family after all. Draco was Teddy’s mum’s mum’s sister’s son, so that made him Teddy’s... second cousin? Or was it first cousin once removed? I was pretty sure it was first cousin once removed, but it didn’t really matter either way, the outcome was the same; they were family.

As Remus and Sirius greeted Harry and Hermione, I noticed Narcissa standing a ways off, wringing her hands nervously. I walked over to her, bouncing Teddy gently. Unlike Remus and Sirius, she looked much worse than ever before. Her cheeks were sunken, dark bags had made a home for themselves beneath her eyes, and the stiffness with which she moved portrayed a woman in pain.

“He isn’t coming.” I said the words softly, for she had not seen me and I didn’t want to startle her. Even so, she flinched violently, as though I’d shouted.

“I didn’t think he would.” She croaked out, “But even so, I thought I would come, to make sure.” Then her eyes landed on Teddy and they widened. “He isn’t...?” She trailed off.

But I knew what she was asking. She wanted to know if he was mine and Draco’s son. I knew how it looked. Me carting around a six month old baby with my hair and Draco’s eyes. “No, he’s Nymphadora’s son. He’s a metamorphmagus like her. That’s why his hair is the same color as mine.”

Narcissa’s eyes softened as she took him in. She brushed a thin finger against his cheek and he reached out, grasping it and cooing softly. “How is Andromeda?” She asked. “After what Bellatrix did to her daughter?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never met her.” I said honestly. “She and Ted have withdrawn, so I assume they’re hurting- of course they’re hurting- his name is Ted though, Teddy.”

Narcissa’s lips twitched, like she wanted to smile but couldn’t quite manage it. “And Draco- is he alright?”

“He will be.” I said. It was a promise, one that I intended to keep.

***

Grimmauld Place felt so empty without the Weasley’s bustling around, without various Order members coming and going at all hours. I felt Tonks and Taleus’s absence now more than ever before. Kreacher was very excited to see me though, so that was a bonus. He decided that my return required a cake to celebrate, and I wasn’t one to stop him, especially not when Sirius casually mentioned that strawberry cheesecake was my favorite.

Two days into the break, the Order had a meeting, which Harry, Hermione and I were allowed to sit in on once again. Snape provided the most useful information, though Kingsley was close behind. Both had strong connections, Snape with the death eaters themselves and Kingsley with the ministry, which the death eaters were working tirelessly to infiltrate. Thus far, they had little success, which gave me some hope, but an account of all of the recent deaths sent that hope plummeting.

It was renewed slightly when Katya showed up, inducted as a new member. She and Snape seemed to be getting on quite well, for he was the one who had asked her if she would be interested in joining up. I couldn’t help but wonder if there might be something brewing between the pair of them. Could Snape possibly be moving on from my mum, after all of this time?

***

I leaned my head on Hermione’s shoulder. The two of us were on her bed, our backs against the wall, Teddy sound asleep in my arms. Fred was sitting on the desk against the adjacent wall and George was turning slightly back and forth in the wheels chair that went with it as Harry leaned against the wall. Harry and I had reached a peace of sorts, an unspoken agreement to just avoid the topics that caused problems between us. It was working well thus far.

The Order meeting had just ended and the adults were having dinner downstairs, but Harry had said he needed to talk to us, so here we were.

“So you’ve been having meetings with Dumbledore this whole year?” I asked, unsure of whether I had heard Harry correctly. He nodded. “About what?”

“About Voldemort, he’s been showing me memories he’s collected of him, from before, when he was still Tom Riddle, or at least from before our mum and dad died. Dumbledore wants me to understand him, I think. So I’ll have a better chance at fighting him- a better chance at beating him, killing him.”

“I suppose that’s smart. Understanding him could give you the upper hand.”

The others nodded their agreement. Then Harry looked back and forth between Fred and Hermione. “Does the rest of your family know that you’re dating Hermione yet?” He asked Fred.

Fred hesitated for a moment before he said, “Mum and dad do, they’re happy about it. They think she’ll tame me. Bill knows, he’s known for a while though, Ginny and Ron know of course. I haven’t really gotten the chance to tell Charlie though, I’ll tell him when he comes home. And there’s no point in trying to tell Percy, prat that he is.”

“And has Ron shown any sign of changing his mind?” I asked tentatively.

“He tried to hex me!” George cried, “When I came out of Fred’s and my room for some breakfast this morning. He thought I was Fred.”

I scoffed and Hermione laid her head against the top of mine.

“Why has he got to be so stubborn?” I grumbled.

“If you ever find the answer to that, me sure to let me know.” Hermione mumbled.

There was a long minute of comfortable silence before George said, “I think I should go back. I hate the idea of Ginny being stuck alone with Ron and Lavlav.”

“Lavlav?” I asked, laughing.

George groaned, “Hermione, I have no idea how you’ve managed to share a dormitory with her for six years, she makes Fleur seem rather tame. Yesterday, I found Fleur and Ginny out in the garden just to escape her.”

“Hang on,” Harry said, straightening up, “She’s at the burrow?”

Fred and George nodded in sync.

“Sounds like a nightmare, maybe I’ll just stay here for Christmas then.” I joked.

“No, you are not allowed.” Hermione hissed. “I will not deal with her alone.”

“Don’t worry Mione, I wouldn’t do that to you.” I grinned at her and then turned to George, “Best of luck to you.” He nodded his appreciation and left the room to a chorus of goodbyes. I glanced over at Fred. He was looking at Hermione, as though he wanted to switch places with me. I took that as my cue that it was time to give them their privacy. I extracted myself from Hermione and slid off the bed. “Harry, I think it’s time we pop down for some supper.” I said pointedly. He caught on quickly and followed me downstairs.

Teddy woke up just as we reached the dining room. He peered up at me groggily. “Aren’t you just the cutest?”

I was shocked to see that Snape had actually chosen to stay for dinner, never before had he elected to do that. Katya had stayed too, so I assumed that had something to do with it. As soon as Molly saw us, she bustled around making up plates for us. While she did that (ever the mother), I went to the fridge and got Teddy a fresh bottle.

He was about a quarter of the way through the bottle when his hair changed into a coal black. Teddy began to reach for Snape expectantly. He had taken to using his hair to communicate who he wanted to hold him in that moment.

“Yeah, good luck with that.” I muttered to him, then I turned to Snape and said, “He wants you to hold him.”

Snape looked taken aback. Teddy reached out his little fists again and closed and opened his fingers around the air over and over. Hesitantly, and much to my surprise, Snape took him from my arms and began gently rocking him back and forth. I was shocked to say the least, Snape had never really struck me as the type to be good with children, but Teddy seemed perfectly happy. “Right then, I’m going to eat my dinner. If he starts to fuss or you need to leave or just get sick of him, you can pretty much pass him off to anyone, though Molly tends to be the most enthusiastic.” Snape nodded, his attention focused solely on Teddy.

A few minutes later, Katya walked into the dining room, from the hall. I suspected she’d been in the bathroom, but it had caused her to miss Teddy’s transfer, so when she saw Snape holding him, she paused for a moment in surprise. Then a soft smile found its way to her face.

***

Being at the burrow was tense to say the least. Lavender and I had never had a problem with each other per se, but we never got on well together either. Molly couldn’t understand what the trouble was, and she quite liked Lavender, so she didn’t like that Ginny and Fleur had started flocking together. As I had always liked Fleur, I had no problem joining the pair of them and Hermione soon followed, later admitting that ‘Fleur wasn’t all that bad.’

Fred and George tended to go off on their own, but occasionally they joined us. Harry was going back and forth between us, trying to bridge the two groups together, but Hermione was hurt and Ron was stubborn and Harry’s efforts were proving fruitless.

And I couldn’t help thinking it, but I wished Percy was here. If only to unite the Weasley’s under the pretense of hating on Percy together. It was cruel, I knew that, and I had nothing personally against him, but I knew all of the Weasleys felt similarly about him. Aside of Molly of course.

Fleur was great with Teddy as well, and I started to get worried that she might be passing me as his favorite. My favorite part of being at the Weasleys had to be when Teddy’s hair turned red and we had to go through each and every one of them to try and figure out who he wanted.One of those times it turned out to be Ron, and in a sullen mood, he flat out refused to take him. Lavender came to the rescue scooping him up and mumbling nonsense to him, and slowly but surely, his cries quieted. Maybe Lavender was alright, despite her poor taste in boyfriends.

Christmas Day came and went in a blur of carols, fine smelling foods and order members flitting in and out throughout the day.

It was late into the night when someone appeared far off in the yard, a dark silhouette steadily growing nearer. As it got closer, it split apart, revealing that it was in fact two people, not one. We gathered at the windows, squinting into the darkness, trying to figure out who they were, seeing as all of the Order members we had been expecting had already stopped by.

“Go upstairs, all of you.” Bill hissed. He had his wand out and at the ready.

“Take Teddy home.” Sirius growled, passing him to Remus. Remus paused for a moment, he and Sirius seeming to have a silent conversation, and then Remus was gone, disappeared out the back door with Teddy in his arms. No matter who it was, nearly everyone in the Wizarding community was predigest against werewolves. And in any case, he was still incredibly weak from the full moon last night, despite the Wolfsbane potion Snape had given him. There was a pop a few seconds later and we knew Remus had disapparated.

Sirius, Arthur, Molly, Fleur, George, and Fred all had their wands drawn too. Hermione was to the stairs when Lavender whispered, “Shouldn’t we go in the back room so we can run out if we need to?”

“Yeah, probably.” Ginny muttered, clearly annoyed that Lavender had been the one to suggest it. We changed directions and all crowded in the back room together. But then Molly was screaming and the front door banged open. “Percy!” She shouted.

“Percy?” I whispered, “Did she say Percy?”

I crept out of the back room to see Molly embracing Percy, who was looking rather awkward and uncomfortable to be there. And beside them was the new minister of magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. Fred and George were trying to glare holes through Percy, and he was pointedly avoiding their gaze.

Somehow Scrimgeour ended up convincing Harry to go out into the garden with him for a little chat and I ended up talking with Percy in a corner.

“Fred and Hermione are dating now,” I said, trying to spark a conversation. “Ron is dating the one with the curly hair, her name’s Lavender and the blonde one is Fleur, you remember her from the TriWizard Tournament, she’s with Bill.”

He nodded absentmindedly. “You’re dating Malfoy right?” He asked. “Draco Malfoy?”

“Yeah...” I said, a little confused. Had he been keeping tabs on all of us? “Are you still dating Penelope?”

“What, uh, no,” He said, he was so distracted. There was something odd going on. Convinced that something fishy was up, I looked inside his head and was deeply concerned by what I found. All of his thoughts were hazy, as though covered by a thick layer of fog. But one thought rang out, loud and clear. Emma is here, at the burrow.

What the hell? Why did that matter?

“Hey, Percy, are you feeling okay?” It was like he had been drugged.

“Of course.” He said. “I’m fine.” It was a little too defensive for someone who was genuinely fine. I squinted at him.

“Right, well, just think about who your family really is.” I muttered and walked away, with him glaring at the back of me. I sat down beside Hermione and hissed into her ear, “Something isn’t right with Percy’s head.” Hermione turned and repeated my sentiment to Ginny. She looked at me with a quizzical gaze. To Hermione I said, “I don’t know what it is, but he was super distracted and his mind is cloudy. I can just tell something is wrong.” I purposely left out the bit where he asked about Draco and only seemed to have one thought running through his head.

There wasn’t time to dwell on it though, for a shouting match had broken out in the front garden. It would appear, that Harry and Scrimgeour were not getting on all that well. I burst into the front garden with the rest of them to find standing inches from one another, glaring into each other’s eyes. “I regret your choice.” Scrimgeour said curtly and then he was stalking away, Percy on his heels.

The pair of them had barely been gone five minutes when several deafening pops sounded around the burrow.

“What the hell was that?” Asked Lavender, gripping Ron’s arm. Her eyes were wide with fear.

Bill pulled back a curtain and shut it quickly. “Death eaters!”

I cursed under my breath. “How many?”

“I don’t know, I saw at least four on this side.” Bill replied.

Then Bellatrix’s voice could be hear, magically magnified, just like Ludo Bagman’s at the World Cup. “No one has to come to any harm. Just give us Emma, and we’ll be on our way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Be sure to leave comments and kudos! Love you all! 💜


	12. Incentive

My head snapped up at her words. I turned to Harry, “They aren’t here for you?”

He merely shook his head, just as confused as I was.

“What the bloody hell do they want you for?” Asked Ron.

At the same time, Sirius said, “Emma, don’t even think about it.”

“I don’t know, do I?” I retorted and turned to face Sirius. “So, what’s the plan?”

“Tick tock.” Bellatrix taunted. “You’re running out of time. Come on out girly.”

“We need to get the kids out of here.” Bill whispered. “Seven of us, six of them, we can get them out by side along apparation, we just need to get outside of the protective barrier. More pops sounded making all of us jump. _Shit_.

I reached out with my mind. ‘ _Draco_.’ I paused for a moment, waiting. ‘ _Draco!_ ’ Nothing. ‘ _I don’t know if you can hear me. I’m am the Burrow right now with Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Lavender. The rest of the Weasleys are here too and Sirius. But we’re trapped inside. Death eaters are surrounding us. Get help. Dumbledore or Snape or McGonagall, anyone in the Order. Tell them what’s happened. I have no idea if you’re hearing any of this, but if you are, I love you._ ’

I snapped my focus back to reality.

“Could we fly out?” Asked Fleur. “From the upper floors, we might make it.”

“The brooms are in the shed.” Arthur said, shaking his head.

“Last chance!” Bellatrix shrieked. “We can either do this the easy way or the fun way!” I swallowed hard. “Okay, fun way it is. But we can’t have you trying to escape, now can we?” And suddenly the world lit up on the other side of the curtains, as though the death eaters had brought out the sun. _Fire!_ They had lit a ring of fire around the Burrow. “Come out, come out, or we’ll have to light you up too!” And then one of the walls had been set aflame.

Lavender screamed.

I had had enough. “Emma.” Sirius said warningly.

I burst through the door and only stopped when I stood directly in front of Bellatrix. “Okay, I’m here, put it out.” She looked almost disappointed. Even so, she waved her hand and a death eater to her right put out the fire. The Burrow creaked loudly, I could only hope it would remain standing. The flames didn’t seem to have done all that much damage, but I didn’t have time to examine it.

“Go home, Bellatrix, before we kill you.” Sirius growled. He was close. Of course he’d followed me outside.

“Oh if you’re here, then that means itty-bitty Potter is too.” Bellatrix said, a smile on her face. _No._

“ _Stupefy!_ ” But it was too late, she had caught sight of Harry and had pressed her wand to the Dark Mark on her forearm, while dodging my jinx in one swift motion. And then there, in a cloud of darkness, Voldemort was appearing. All of the death eaters had paused their fighting to look at their materializing master.

Molly and Fleur utilized this opportunity to pull Ginny and Lavender across the invisible barrier that prevented apparation and with a loud pop, the four of them were gone. Good. I could only hope Molly and Fleur would be smart enough to not come back.

“Don’t let anyone else get away!” Bellatrix hissed. And in unison all of the death eaters sent disarming charms. It was impossible to shield against all of them and wands began to fly through the air. Hermione, Harry, Fred and I alone managed to keep hold of ours.

“You need to get Harry out,” I muttered under my breath to Sirius. He didn’t move. “Go!” He looked me full in the face. “You can come back for me.” He hesitated for another moment before darting off toward Harry. Harry didn’t want to go, but Sirius was stronger and a moment later they were gone.

“No!” Voldemort screamed.

“Hello Tom.” I said sweetly. The death eaters were closing in around us. Bill tried to grab Ron and a dozen stunning spells hit the pair of them. They both collapsed, unconscious. Arthur tried to charge the nearest death eater and ended up in the same state. It was down to Hermione, Fred, George and me. “A little pathetic, don’t you think? You’ve got how many death eaters here? Against a pair of eighteen year olds, a seventeen year old and I’m barely fifteen.”

“Natural for Potter to hide behind his friends- to run and leave you all behind.” Voldemort spat. Several of his death eaters laughed.

“I wouldn’t laugh if I were you.” I said to them, “You’re the ones who let him get away. I bet you’re in trouble.” Their jeering expressions turned to snarls. “So, I heard you wanted to see me?” I asked Voldemort.

“You’re brave and of my own house.” He said. “You would make a good death eater.”

I laughed, “I’m sure I would.”

“You could join your boyfriend.” He emphasized the last word as though it was some sort of joke.

“I could, but you know, I’ve never really been a big fan of branding.” I motioned to my forearm, where a dark mark would go.

“Pity.” He sighed, “Such a waste of a talented witch.” He raised his wand.

“Wait!” He paused. Bellatrix was eyeing him, surprised. I continued on, “Let them leave.” I gestured to the twins and Hermione, “Then we’ll talk.”

Voldemort thought for a moment, considering my offer. Apparently, he really wanted me, for he said, “Fine. Go.”

I turned around and looked at the three of them. “Leave.” I pointed my wand at Ron, “ _Renervate!_ ” He began to stir feebly. Hermione and Fred did the same to Arthur and Bill, looking helpless. “Go!” Into their minds I added, ‘ _I’ll be fine, I promise, I’ve got a plan._ ’

A moment later they were all gone and I was alone. Salazar had been right, Legilimency was good for persuasion, more effective than the imperius curse, and better yet, they didn’t even know I’d done it.

I crossed my arms, swallowed hard and said, “I’ll be a death eater.”

“Why-” Hissed Bellatrix.

“Silence!” Voldemort cut in.

But I answered her anyway, “I want to help Draco with his mission, he’s meant to kill Dumbledore, is he not?”

“He should not have told you that!” Bellatrix chided.

“He didn’t.” I spat. “You forget, I am very good at Legilimency. I read his mind.”

“He is meant to apply Occlumency.”

“I am stronger.”

“Then he isn’t-”

“I can see your thoughts right now. So either you’re being lazy, or I’m just more skilled than you.”

“How do we know we can trust you?” She spat, changing tactics.

“I haven’t told Dumbledore or the Order about Draco's allegiance, and I’ve been helping him this whole time.”

Voldemort seemed satisfied. “Come here.” I stepped forward cautiously, unsure of what he was going to do to me. “Your arm.” I held out my right arm for him.

“I’m left-handed.” I said, by way of explanation.

He nodded. My skin crawled as he grasped my forearm in his ice cold hand. He pushed up my sleeve and pressed his wand to my skin and began muttering incoherently, tracing the pattern of the dark mark over and over. It began to appear, in stark contrast with my pale skin, and I screamed. It was pain like nothing I had ever known before. It was white hot and blinding, I thought I would surely die from it as my vision began to spot. It was everything I could do to stay upright- to stay conscious. _Draco had done this? Draco had survived this._

The pain ebbed a little, but it was still dreadful. I opened my eyes and there it was- the brand, the dark mark, whole and dreadful, the mark of the worst evil I had ever met.

‘ _Emma?_ ’ It was Draco’s voice in my head, faint and far away, like he was calling to me down a long tunnel. ‘ _You’re fading in and out, where are you?’_

_‘The Burrow_.’

“There.” Voldemort said and released my arm, my sleeve fell back into place. “You will convince your friends and the Order members that you are on their side. You will not tell them that I have made you a death eater. You will aid Draco in his task and ensure it is completed before the year’s end.”

I nodded. “Of course, my lord. It will be done.” The words tasked like sandpaper on my tongue. Bellatrix surely wasn’t convinced by my act, but the rest of them seemed to be. I had to suppress a laugh at that, but in their defense, they didn’t know the key detail; that Harry was my brother and I loved him more dearly than anyone else on this earth.

‘ _The Order is on its way_.’

I tilted my head. “The Order is coming back to fight you.” I said. “They’ll be here any moment. It wouldn’t do for your plans for them to arrive with me unharmed.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Voldemort hissed. “ _Expelliarmus_!” It took everything in me to not cast a shield charm. I let my wand fly from my hand and land in the grass several feet away. “ _Crucio_!” I collapsed to the ground. I was vaguely aware that I was screaming again, but nothing else registered until the pain was gone and warm, gentle hands were picking me up off of the ground. I opened my eyes and found that all of the death eaters were gone. Voldemort was gone. It was over.

I let out a shaky breath, only now able to realize how frightened I had been. I looked up to see who was carrying me. Through tears- when had I started crying?-I saw his blurred figure- Bill.

“I want to go back to Hogwarts, to the hospital wing, I want Draco.” My voice was so ragged, I wasn't sure if he’d heard. But he nodded at me, his voice solemn, and I knew he’d keep his word. I passed out, knowing that the next time I would wake would be at Hogwarts. And if I was lucky, Draco would be sitting beside my bed when I did.

***

The world beyond my eyelids was bright, and if I could trust Bill, then it meant I was in the hospital wing. Slowly, trying to adjust to the brightness, I opened my eyes. I would have to thank Bill, for a quick glance around my surroundings told me that I had made it to the hospital wing.

Across the room, much of the Order was crowded together, deep in conversation. Kingsley, whose back was to me, suddenly turned around and began hobbling towards me. “Alright there, kid?”

“Yeah,” I groaned, trying to sit up on my elbows. Why did my ribs hurt?

“I wouldn’t do it if I were you.” He warned, drawing nearer to me. “You don’t look so good.”

“You don’t exactly look your best either.” I commented.

“Yeah well, dueling while hungover, not so good for me.” He said wryly. “What were you thinking?”

“He didn’t want me dead, but he could care less about everyone else.” I said, my voice was rough, incredibly hoarse, and even the single sentence caused a burning sensation to form in my throat.

“And why is he so interested in you?” Kingsley asked, passing me a glass of water.

“Thank you.” I drank the whole thing before continuing. “Because I fought him last year, he knows that I’m strong. He also knows that I’m in Slytherin, so he thinks I share his values. He wanted me to join him, to become a death eater.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Snape’s head shift minutely, listening in. “And when he let everyone go, it was meant to be an exchange. They’d leave, I’d become a death eater. So he let them go and I made them disapparate and once they were gone, I told him him I wouldn’t be a death eater.” I attempted a smile. “He didn’t much like that answer.”

Kingsley refilled my glass. “So he tortured you?” I nodded and took another sip of water. “How did Mr. Malfoy know you were in trouble?”

“I told him.” I explained. “I have been practicing a form of Legilimency with him, a form that involves speaking into each other’s minds. It’s harder to do it over a distance, voices fade in and out, it takes longer, there’s like a travel time delay or something. But my message got through and then Draco told- who did Draco tell?”

“Dumbledore. He went bursting into Dumbledore’s office in the middle of the night.” Kingsley said evenly.

“Where is he?” I asked.

“Dumbledore or Draco?”

“Draco.”

“He tried to come see you about an hour ago, we told him to go back to his dormitory. If he listened, that’s where he’ll be.” Kingsley said. “Are you hungry?”

“No.”

“Are you in a lot of pain?”

It was an effort to keep from looking at my fight arm. It still hurt like a bitch but the rest of me was- “Just sore, I think. How long have I been out?”

“Not long, it’s the 26th.” He checked his watch. “Six in the morning. Bill got to you at about one thirty.”

“Who else was there?”

“Myself, Sirius, Bill, Fleur, Fred and George, Emmeline, Hestia and Sturgis. Voldemort disapparated as soon as Dumbledore showed up, he wasn’t eager to fight. The rest of the death eaters left soon after that.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

“Nothing life threatening, nor life changing. One last thing, how did Voldemort know you were at the Burrow?”

“No idea.”

Kingsley either did notice my lie or chose not to question it, either way, he was going from the room within the minute.

***

A few hours later, the majority of the Order had dispersed until only Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Sirius, Remus and the Hogwarts’ professors remained. Sirius and Remus had long since checked on me and then once they’d determined that I was alright, chastised me for ‘playing hero.’

Hermione walked over to me, her arms were crossed. “You know, they checked you for a dark mark, while you were unconscious.” My heart skipped a beat. “They didn’t find one, of course, otherwise you wouldn’t be here, at least not with your wand.” She motioned to the nightstand. Sure enough, there it was. “But I wondered, if you refused him, we both know he would have taken you hostage. But he didn’t, he stayed at the Burrow. It’s almost like he wanted us to get your back.”

“What are you trying to say here?” I asked her, uneasy.

“I’m saying, you’re left-handed, so it wouldn’t make sense for your mark to be on your left arm.” She said. “And they didn’t check your right.”

“I didn’t have a choice,” I whispered.

“Why do you think I didn’t tell them?” Hermione asked, raising a brow, “What’s he want you to do?”

I shrugged, “I’m supposed to gather information about the Order’s plans and report back. I don’t intend on doing anything of the sort.”

“Okay, I trust you.” Hermione whispered to me.

“Thank you.” And with that, she was gone. 

Into Dumbledore’s mind, I said, _‘I need to talk to you.’_

He gave me a quick look to acknowledge that he’d heard me, and then he nodded before turning back to face the other teachers.

‘ _And Snape._ ’ Another nod.

Less than fifteen minutes later, Snape excused himself from the group and strode over to me. “Can you walk?”

“Haven’t tried yet.”

“Well, let’s see.”

Gingerly, I slid from the bed and stood. “Well, would you look at that?” I tried for a smile. It was harder than I’d expected it to be- both the standing and the smiling. I stretched my arms above my head, cracking my joints and relieving the tension from my muscles.

Dumbledore smiled kindly back at me, “Can you make it to my office?”

“I think so.”

Dumbledore helped me from the room, “Severus, I would like to speak with you too.” Snape looked up and followed us out.

Once we reached Dumbledore’s office, I collapsed into a chair. Dumbledore took the seat behind his desk, but Snape opted to continue standing, arms crossed.

“Emma, what would you like to talk about?”

I pursed my lips. “I fucked up, bad.”

“Did you divulge information about the Order’s plans under torture?” Dumbledore asked. Snape narrowed his eyes at me. He knew that wasn’t what happened, I wasn’t sure how he knew, but he did.

I shook my head and opened my mouth to tell them, but I couldn’t get the words out. So, I pulled up my right sleeve and showed them. Neither of them betrayed even the slightest reaction, no hint of shock or surprise mingled on their features. “But you already knew that didn’t you?” I faced Snape. “Voldemort told you, and you told Dumbledore.”

Dumbledore leaned forward at his desk, leaning his clasped hands against it. “By your use of Voldemort’s name, I take it you do not actually intend to follow his orders.”

I scoffed. “Of course I don’t!” Then everything began to click into place. “You were testing me, that’s why you didn’t tell me that you knew, you don’t trust me, so you wanted to see whether or not I would tell you.”

“Forgive me.” Dumbledore said, sounding older than ever before. “Severus trusted you, and he thought I was wrong not to, but you must understand, I had to make sure.”

“I get it.” I said softly. “Do you know how to get rid of it?” No one said anything. “Is there a way to get rid of it?” I asked again, louder this time.

“Does it hurt?” Snape asked, his voice was gentle, almost pitying.

“No.” He gave me a hard stare. “Yes.” Snape pulled a little bottle from his pocket and strode over to me. He pulled out the cork and began dabbing the salve on the mark. I hissed involuntarily at the contact. My skin prickled and burned, but slowly the pain began to ebb until it was barely there at all. “Thank you.”

“Here.” He dropped the bottle into my open palm. “Keep it, when it starts to wear off, reapply. If you run low, let me know, I can make more, but the pain should fade on its own after a while.”

Just then Gellert came into the office and his eyes immediately landed on my mark. “Ooo kiddo,” He said, his voice was the vocalization of a wince, “Now that is a piece of bad luck.”

I offered him a halfhearted glare. _Anyone could walk in at any time._ And then I remembered the portraits. I locked eyes with the portrait of Brian Gagwilde, awake and alert in his frame, clearly he had heard and seen everything. He blinked back at me, his face utterly expressionless. I looked back and forth between him, Dumbledore, Gellert and Snape.

“No one tell Draco.”


	13. In Search of a Cure

“Do I have to go back to the hospital wing?” I asked.

“Yes, I think so.” Dumbledore nodded, “Madam Pomfrey has to clear you herself, I think, and in any case, Draco will likely be waiting for you there.”

Sure enough, when I returned to the hospital wing ten minutes later, there Draco was. He was sitting in then chair beside my bed, and on the nightstand sat two plates of food. When he saw me, he stood and rushed over to help me back to bed.

No one had ever mentioned that the cruciatus curse had this after effect on the body. Perhaps it only occurred when the curse was used extensively in a short period of time.

Once I was settled back into the bed, Draco asked, “Hungry.” I nodded. “Which one?” He held up the two plates for my inspection. The first one had a bagel, loaded with cheese, eggs and bacon, with a side of a yogurt parfait and cantaloupe. The other plate was stacked with blueberry pancakes, a cornbread muffin and sausages. I contemplated them both for a moment before pointing to the first one. He grinned at me. “Good choice.” And passed it over onto my lap.

“Thanks.” The two of us ate together in silence. Throughout the meal, I noticed that Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Harry kept glancing in our direction, it was unsettling to say the least.

One we were finished, with our plates set aside, he asked me, “How are you feeling.”

I shrugged, “Fine, I guess. Everything is just sore, especially my throat.” I felt guilt flood through him. “Thank you, for getting to Dumbledore so fast.”

He looked up. “I should have been there.”

“Draco...”

“You asked me to come back with you and I said no. I should’ve gone with you. If I had been there-”

“If you had been there then the situation would have become even more complicated. You would have had to play both sides and it wouldn’t have ended well, you know that.” I whispered back. He couldn’t think of anything to counter that, so we sat in silence for a few minutes before I asked, “Why did you go to Dumbledore, why not Snape?”

He seemed surprised by the question. “Because he’s a death eater.” Draco said slowly. “And you were being attacked by death eaters.”

“Hang on a second, what?” Surely Draco didn’t believe that. “Snape isn’t really a death eater, he’s only pretending, he’s on the Order’s side.”

Draco shook his head, “Em, I don’t think so.”

I wasn’t in the mood to argue with him, “Let’s agree to disagree.”

He shrugged, “Alright.”

***

Finally, after three more days in the hospital wing, I felt good as new. “Can I go yet?” I asked Snape and Dumbledore, both of which were there, discussing possibilities of how to heal Dumbledore of his curse. He was still adamant that it was impossible, but Snape and I refused to give up hope.

“Back to Grimmauld Place?” Dumbledore asked.

I shook my head, “No, I think I’ll stay at the castle. I just don’t want to be stuck in here anymore.”

“I don’t think you should be alone.” Snape said.

“I won’t be alone, I have Draco to keep me company.”

“Why not go back to Grimmauld Place, see your Godson a little while longer?” Snape tried.

I narrowed my eyes at him, “I have things to do, lots of homework.”

“I think, as long as you don’t go trying to pick fights with anyone, you can go.” Dumbledore mused.

I turned to him, “Speaking of things to do, Harry tells me that you’ve been giving him private lessons.”

Snape’s head snapped to Dumbledore, “Have you now?”

“Ah yes, I have.” Dumbledore said. “I feel that they can only help in the fight that is surely to arise against Voldemort after I am dead.”

“Funnily enough, that’s what he said, minus the you being dead bit.” Dumbledore chuckled. “My question is, why can the rest of us not have the same information he is given?”

“Your circumstances are different than his.”

“Why? Because of the prophecy?”

Dumbledore’s eyes widened. He was surprised. “I was unaware that you knew about that.”

“I found out about it... and I heard it, before Harry did- last year. I also know that Trelawney made it to you and Professor Snape overheard it and reported back to Voldemort and then Voldemort went after my brother.”

“That’s why I switched sides. As I’ve said, your mum and I were friends, we had a falling out of course, when I started to align myself with the death eater want-to-be’s, but when Voldemort went after your family, I didn’t want anything to happen to her. I asked him to spare her, but I didn’t trust that he would. So, I went to Dumbledore and asked him to protect your whole family. He agreed and in exchange, I would be his spy.” Snape explained.

“But Dumbledore failed, my parents still died, and you’re still here.” I said, slowly, the unasked question heavy in the air.

“I wasn’t going to go back to the wizard who killed Lily, I want him dead just as much as anyone else in the Order.”

***

I surprised Draco in our dorm room later that night, after being cleared by Madam Pomfrey.

“I missed you,” I whispered, pulling him into a kiss.

He smiled into the kiss and whispered against my lips, “I missed you too.” One hand was on my cheek, the other around my waist. He pulled me closer so my body was pressed against his, and only then did I realize how muscular he’d become over this summer and the months following. My fingers found the hem of his shirt, and gently, achingly slowly, I pulled it upwards. We broke apart for a moment for it to pass over his head and then his lips were back on mine.

Moments later, my shirt was on the floor too. I backed up until my legs were pressed up against the bed, bringing Draco with me.

“Is this your first time?” He asked between kissed as he pushed me onto the bed.

“Yes,” I breathed. Of course it was, I was thirteen when we’d started dating.

He paused, “Are you sure you want to?”

“Yes.” I smiled and kissed him again.

He gave me a wolfish grin, his animagus form shining through, and flicked his wand, causing the empty portrait for Brian Gagwilde to turn and face the wall.

***

A lot of students didn’t come back after holiday break. In our year, each house had been hit with the loss.

For Hufflepuff Wayne Hopkins, Sally-Anne Perks and Runcorn hadn’t returned. If the gossip could be trusted, Runcorn was dead, the Perks family had gone into hiding and Wayne Hopkins older brother had been killed by death eaters.

The Gryffindors had lost Lily Moon and Parvati Patil. No one knew anything about Lily, but Parvati had gone into hiding with the rest of her family.

Ravenclaw was missing Padma Patil, Stephen Cornfoot and Sue Li. Padma, of course, was with her sister. Stephen was a muggleborn, so he’d likely gone into hiding. And Sue was an exchange student from America, so she had most likely simply returned to her family.

We had lost the least in Slytherin, but it was a blow all the same. Millicent’s mum and dad had been murdered because her mum was muggleborn and her dad, a blood traitor. She had managed to escape with her little brother, barely five years old, to a small town in Portugal where she had distant family.

Two days into the new term news to bolster our spirits arrived; apparation lessons would begin that very weekend. They were to be hosted by a ministry wizard called Wilkie Twycross. While the other sixth years seemed to see apparation as a source of fun, I could only see it as a tool necessary to our survival in the future.

The realization that we likely wouldn’t be able to return to Hogwarts for our final year had sprung upon me during breakfast at the start of term when I had seen just how many of my classmates were missing. If Dumbledore died, Hogwarts wouldn’t be safe for us, especially not Harry. And without Dumbledore, Voldemort would likely take control of Hogwarts.

We’d be able to hide out at Grimmauld Place, but with Dumbledore dead, we’d have upwards of forty secret keepers and I didn’t trust that Mundungus Fletcher couldn’t be persuaded to give up our location to Voldemort. Then we’d be on the run, traveling around trying to get rid of Voldemort for good. Apparation would be necessary to stay out of death eater’s grasp.

***

As it would turn out, Wilkie Twycross was obsessed with what he referred to as the ‘Three D’s’ which, according to him, were the secret to successful apparation. _Destination, Determination, Deliberation_. I inwardly rolled my eyes any time he mentioned any of them. he were meant to turn on the spot and apparate into a hoop on the ground, a few meters away.

Twycross had us attempt it rather early into the session, without much preparation or explanation. All of us were surprised that it was happening so fast. We were even more surprised when, on my first try, I apparated. I overshot my hoop by a little, ending up on the opposite side of the Great Hall. Even so, it was better than the others, none of whom managed to move an inch.

As the hour ended, Hermione and Draco had managed to apparate, and I had perfected it. Unfortunately, no one else had moved in the slightest.

***

“Okay but you were able to use a counter spell to slow down the effects of the curse, so there’s got to be a way to enhance the components of the spell to remove the curse completely.” I said.

“What if we amputated the hand?” Gellert suggested.

“The curse is in his blood now, perhaps that would have worked if he’d done it immediately, but not now, not after all of this time.” Snape said.

I crossed my arms and signed, my eyes narrowed and hard on Dumbledore’s shriveled and blackened hand.

“Have you tried getting Fawkes to cry onto it?” I asked, my gaze fixing onto the phoenix.

Dumbledore shook his head but Gellert was the one to answer. “Phoenix tears can heal any wound, not any curse. They can heal cursed wounds, yes, diseases and poisons, yes, but this is such a powerful curse that it cannot be so easily healed, just as a Phoenix tear is unable to heal lycanthropy.”

“What about if the phoenix tears were highly concentrated and injected directly into the blood stream?” All three men shook their heads. I groaned and leaned back in my chair, thinking hard. _There had to be a way, there was always a way, we just had to find it._ “I’m going to go to the library and see if I can find anything.”

“Good luck with that.” Gellert said as I left.

In reality, I had no intention of going to the library at all. I hurried down flight after flight of stairs until finally I made it to the girl’s bathroom on the second floor. Once inside I quickly spoke Parseltongue and slid down into the Chamber.

A few minutes later I was in Sal’s underground house, which today greatly resembled a bank, with its towering ceilings and marble pillars and minimalistic furniture. I found him lounging by a raging fireplace with a book open in his lap.

“Hey Gramps,” I said and he closed the book, dog-earing his page for later reference.

“Ah, Emma, good to see you.”

“And you.” I replied, “Listen, do you know how to reverse Dumbledore’s curse? Some spell or potion or I don’t know, anything you can think of?”

Salazar sighed, “I’m afraid that nothing comes to mind, but I will look into it. And I will ask Brian to consult all of his contacts and the other portraits he has access to.”

“Thank you.” It wasn’t the answer I had been hoping for, but at least it was something.

“So I hear that you’ve just started apparation lessons,” Salazar said, “And I hear that you were the first one to do it, followed by Draco and one other.”

“Spying on me, are you?” I asked.

“Not spying, checking in on.” He said.

“Potayto, potahto.” I said, then added, “And her name’s Hermione.”

***

_“Lily, our daughter is a death eater.” James whispered, in utter disbelief._

_“She did it to save the others, you know that James, she isn’t like the rest of them, she’s good, and she’s still the same as she always was.” Lily said, but uncertainty bled into her voice and remained in the back of her mind until, hours later, when Emma revealed the mark to Dumbledore and Severus without prompting or accusation._

_Lily saw the tension drain from James’ shoulders and knew that he had seen the same thing she was seeing; their daughter had no intention of carrying out any of Voldemort’s wishes. And Lily knew that that meant a target would be placed on Emma’s back but she also knew that a target was already there, so it didn’t matter. What mattered was that their daughter wasn’t siding with Voldemort. She was brave and smart and cunning and loyal. She would not aid Voldemort in his plans of mass genocide and control as he attempted to gain power and rise to the top._

_Lily and James could only hope- hope with their entire beings- that both of their children would make it through the battle to come, and end out victorious. Because though they wanted to be with Harry and Emma again, they wanted it to be a very long while before they were together._


	14. Be a Kid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I hope you’re all doing well (or at least okay)! Love you all and thank you so much for the support! I only have one more chapter to write for the Starry fic and then it’ll be done... so more time for this one! Plus I have a week and a half off for the holidays and most of my teachers are being kind and not giving me any work, so hopefully I’ll be able to put out a couple of chapters then for you!

Over the next several weeks, I worked frantically to find some way to cure Dumbledore. My motives were nothing to do with saving the man himself, I merely knew that if anyone could save my brother it was Dumbledore. Sal had been trying to work out a way to forcibly remove a horcrux from someone, but thus far he’d come up empty. So, we’d changed tactics and he’d focused his resources on trying to cure Dumbledore.

I knew I’d need to tell Dumbledore what Harry was soon, but if I said it, it became real.

The majority of my year could apparate sporadically, but few could do it consistently while landing in the desired location. The air was beginning to grow warmer as the changing of seasons began around us. But the snow remained stubbornly planted on the ground, and I had to admit, I was sick of it. Once it left, we would be free to walk the grounds during empty spaces in our schedules, but for now we were confined to our common rooms. With all of the tightening security at Hogwarts and rise in deaths and disappearances beyond the castle, I doubted whether we would make it to spring at all.

McGonagall seemed to share in my worries, as I heard in her thoughts during one particularly dull transfiguration class. She feared that the school would be forced to shut down, despite the fact that it was likely the safest place for the students now.

I had been researching anything and everything to do with surviving in hiding and found something rather interesting... something that could be incredibly useful and could be the difference between survival and death at the hands of the natural elements. I would have to consult Dumbledore, Snape, Gellert and Sal about it, see if there would be any unforeseen complications.

But today was not the day for that, today was Ron’s birthday and the first day of March. And apparently a series of very odd events, beginning with Fred and George’s joke shop had resulted in him being poisoned, nearly dying and ending up in the hospital wing. Harry had brought the news to me. I had immediately recognized it as a desperate play on Draco’s part to bring about the death of Dumbledore. And I was not having it, not at all.

I stalked into our dorm room and into the adjoining bathroom where I found him comparing ties. “Does this one look slightly greener to you or-”

I cut him off, “Really Draco? That was reckless and stupid and you nearly killed Ron! He would have been dead, if not for Harry and that fucking bezoar!”

“Come again?” Draco asked, turning to face me and letting the ties fall to his side.

“The poisoned mead, Draco! Ron drank it. Slughorn gave him some for his birthday and Ron drank it.”

Draco’s eyes widened in a mixture of shock and guilt, “He’s not dead is he?”

I sighed and patiently repeated myself. “Harry saved him with that bezoar that he had in class, but that isn’t the point. How could you have been so stupid?”

“I forgot about it...” He said, ashamed.

“You forgot about a fatal weapon you set virtually loose in the school in a weak attempt to kill a man that- for all cases of victory in this war- needs to survive?” He ducked his head and rooted his gaze on the floor between us, a merely perceptible nod was his only answer. I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed again. “Is there anything else? Besides the cursed necklace, poisoned mead and secret thing you’ve been working on?”

“I- no, wait, yes, Rosmerta is under the imperius curse, she’s the one who gave Katie the cursed necklace and shipped Slughorn the poisoned mead.” I groaned but refrained from chastising Draco further, after all he had told me the truth. I stood to leave and Draco asked, “What are you doing?”

“Going to tell Dumbledore that Rosmerta’s been imperiused.”

“Emma, you can’t-”

“Relax, I’m not going to tell him it was you, I’ll just say that I suspect it because Katie was near Rosmerta before she was cursed and the mead was from her bar.” I reassured him and left the room.

A few minutes later I arrived at Dumbledore’s office. I walked in without knocking or announcing my presence, only Gellert and Dumbledore were there, anyway. The pair of them were hunched over Dumbledore’s desk. All of the books and trinkets had been pushed aside to give room for their work. Half a dozen cauldrons were strewn about, each bubbling a different color and omitting various odors.

“I’ve got news.” I said, surveying them.

Gellert straightened and strode around the desk. When Dumbledore didn’t move, Gellert turned and whispered, “Al, Emma’s got news for us.” He looked up as though he had only just realized I was even there.

“Ah, yes, Emma, what is it?” He asked, his voice had a slight rasp to it, as though he hadn’t used it in a while, or he had just been screaming at the top of his lungs. I wasn’t sure which option was worse. I moved past it and pressed on, telling them what Draco had told me of Madam Rosmerta. “Thank you for telling me.” Dumbledore said mildly. Tonks is guarding the school, I will have her go and put Madam Rosmerta right. If there isn’t anything else,” He gestured to the cauldrons before him, “We ought to get back to this.”

“I can help,” I offered, desperate to do whatever I could to increase Dumbledore’s chances of survival.

Gellert shook his head before Dumbledore had the chance to say anything, “We’ve got it, I think.” He turned back to Dumbledore, who nodded. “You’re a kid, try to enjoy it, under the circumstances, I know it’s hard, but being young doesn’t last.”

“All due respect, I think I stopped being a child the day I got my Hogwarts letter. I know you haven’t been here the whole time but during my first year Voldemort set a basilisk loose on the castle, one of my best friends was petrified, another of my best friends was possessed and controlled and my brother nearly died. I found him in the Chamber of Secrets and watched him kill the basilisk and watched one of my teachers die.

“In my second year, I found out that the man who I thought caused my parent’s deaths actually didn’t and that one of their other friends was the true culprit and had faked his death and gone into hiding as a rat. Oh and I was stuck in a coma for a month.

“In my third year, a teacher went up against my brother, entering his name into the deadliest competition, all as a plot to revive Voldemort, a plot that was successful, I might add. And a student died, Cedric died. All while my godfather was locked up and being impersonated by a death eater.

“In my fourth year, Umbridge took over the school and Dumbledore went on the run. Sirius died and Draco and I had to resuscitate him, I fought Voldemort, nearly got expelled on about a dozen different occasions, helped to run a secret club, and watched two friends die.

“And now this year, my boyfriend was forced to become a death eater in order to live, my brother’s best friend, who is like a brother to me, nearly died, I had to become a death eater in order to save Hermione and Fred and George, and now I need to help find a way to save your life.

“And you know what was happening before I started going to school here, absolutely nothing of interest happened in my life. I went to school with muggles, I learned how to read and write and do math. And now there are people dying.”

“So you wish that you never got your letter?” Dumbledore asked, his faced lined with worry and sadness.

“If I had the opportunity to relive it, to decide whether or not I wanted to come here, I wouldn’t change a thing, I only mean that I think I have outlived my childhood.” I explained.

“You’re right of course, you usually are, but I expect Draco will be waiting for you and if I know him at all, he will be incredibly worried for you.” Dumbledore said, giving me a stern look over the top of his half moon spectacles. I knew he was right, but I didn’t want to go.

I sighed and stood. “I’ll be back, okay? You’re not allowed to go and die.” Dumbledore gave me a half smile and I left the office, left the pair of them to their work.

***

A week passed, then two, and still no progress had been made. Dumbledore had all but accepted his ultimate death.

I visited them everyday, hoping they’d come up with something, to no avail. Even the philosopher’s stone wouldn’t have been able to save him. Unicorn blood could, yes, but we dared not try it, horcruxes of course were an option, but Dumbledore refused. Gellert suggested the deathly hallows be united, for Dumbledore had the wand, the cracked stone and my brother had the cloak. But Dumbledore had shut that idea done quickly, the hallows would not work for him, aside of the elder wand, to which he was master.

While we waited for brewing potions to yield their results, Gellert had decided it was imperative to begin teaching me wandless magic. I needed to be able to continue fighting even if I was disarmed. First he taught me to produce a shield charm without my wand, it was much easier than I had anticipated, and took less than an hour for me to perfect. Then we moved on to the summoning charm, so I could easily call my wand back to me. After three hours of practice, I could preform the two spells simultaneously.

“Look at her, Albus, she’s better than we were.” Gellert said fondly. 

Dumbledore offered me a smile and then returned to the book he’d been reading.

***

I snuck into the Gryffindor common room that night to hang out with Hermione, Harry, Ginny and Ron if he was speaking to Hermione again. I found Harry, Ron and Hermione sitting around a table doing homework, annoyingly, Lavender was there too. Harry and Hermione had moved so they were as far away from her as possible while still being at the table. Neither Ron, nor Lavender seemed to have noticed. I strode over to them and rested an arm on Hermione’s shoulder.

She jumped but smiled when she saw that it was only me. “How’s it going?” I asked them. The other three looked up.

“How’d you get in here?” Harry asked, both curious and amused.

“That, I’m afraid, is a secret, and if I told you, I’d have to kill you.” I said evasively. In all honesty, I had just looking into one of the younger student’s mind and prompted him into thinking the password. Though, I supposed I could have just asked Sal to open the portrait for since the castle listened to him. Hermione, Harry and Ron all laughed.

But Lavender just looked at me, as though incredibly annoyed by my presence. “This is the Gryffindor common room.” She said flatly.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” I said, my voice laced with sarcasm, though I managed to keep the bite out of my tone.

“You’re a Slytherin, you’re not supposed to be here.” She pointed out.

It was an effort to refrain from rolling my eyes. “Lav, it’s okay, she’s Harry’s-” Ron cut himself off just in time, offering me an apologetic look.

“She’s Harry’s what?” Lavender asked, suddenly interested.

“Nothing,” I said, and under my breath added, “Here we go.”

“Oh my god, are you two dating?” She asked, her voice reaching an annoyingly high-pitched squeal. I resisted the (very strong) urge to slam my head against the table. _She doesn’t know that you’re siblings, she has no way of knowing, it isn’t her fault._

“Nope, still with Draco.” I ground out.

She huffed. “Personally, I think Harry is a much better option, he’s much nicer and well, Malfoy is a _Slytherin_.” She whispered the last word as though it was bad or scandalous.

“Well as you so kindly pointed out earlier, I am also a Slytherin.” I snapped. Ginny snorted from just behind Hermione. She’d just entered with Neville and Astoria. I sat forward and drawled, “Looks like I’m not the only one crashing.” Astoria spluttered for words but I waved a lazy hand in the air. “I won’t tell Daph, not that she’d mind.” I pointed at Neville. “Don’t you do anything stupid or I’ll have to kill you.”

He grinned at me, “I wouldn’t dream of it.” And then the pair of them were gone, disappeared up the boy’s stairs.

I turned to Harry and Ron. “I would suggest you maybe don’t go up there for a bit.”

They both laughed, Ron’s ears were exceptionally red and he didn’t make eye contact with his sister and she strode off to sit with some of her friends.

“So, what are we working on?” I asked, settling back in and peering at the parchment and books spread across the table.

“Snape’s essay,” Ron said darkly, it was no secret that he still loathed my favorite professor.

“Oh, give it here, I already turned mine in and got an outstanding,” I said.

“You got an outstanding because you’re in Slytherin.” Ron said.

“No,” I countered, “I got an outstanding because my work is outstanding.”

Hesitantly, Ron passed over his half completed essay, it wasn’t bad, clearly it had had Hermione’s help. Idly, I wondered if that’s why Ron had forgiven Hermione; because his grades had been suffering. No, he wasn’t cruel enough to use Hermione like that. I tapped his page with my wand a few times, adjusting sentences, then told him some points he could write to finish off his essay. Hermione’s was wonderful, and didn’t need any changes, whatsoever, so I merely read through it for the enjoyment of it. Harry’s was alright, factually correct, though rather lacking in detail, but that was an easy fix. Next I moved to Lavender, who flat out refused to let me have a look.

I shrugged, “I don’t care, you can just fail with that rubbish.” She glared at me, but shoved her paper in my general direction.

To summarize it in a few words; It was utterly horrible. I wasn't even aware that people could be that bad at writing. Her sentences cut off midway in places, or they were not factually true, and she began every sentence with I think. Some of her sentences took up half a dozen lines and her punctuation was few and far between. Not to mention the fact that it trailed off topic in various places and failed to answer the original prompt.

‘ _Listen to this_.’ I said into Hermione’s mind and then read out, ‘ _I think the man might become the werewolf every full moon and then be really tired afterwards when he has to sleep all day to come back to the human version of himself and not go to his job until the day after because he will still have fangs or maybe his eyes will be different_.’

Hermione snickered and Lavender’s head snapped up. “What’s so funny?”

“Lavender,” I said delicately, drawing her attention away from my still giggling friend. “Did you read the assigned chapter about werewolf transformations, traits, remedies and counter active measures?”

“No.” She said defensively.

“It shows.” I said, as gently as I could while trying my best to suppress the bout of laughter that was threatening to overtake me.

Hermione failed to keep hers in and a snort escaped. She quickly clamped her hand over her mouth, but the sound wasn’t missed by the group. Harry looked like he was trying to hold in some laughter of his own and Ron was working hard to keep his face expressionless. Likely, because Lavender wouldn’t take kindly to being laughed at by her boyfriend. “Well are you going to fix it or not?” Her eyes darted around between us comically, as though she couldn’t quite figure out who she most wanted to glare at.

“Sorry, it’s a lost cause.” At my words, the whole group lost it, laughing. Lavender’s face turned beet red and she stood, knocking her chair back and stalked up the stairs to the girl’s dorms. I turned to Ron and said, “You know, I never thought I would find someone who was worse than you at writing essays but congratulations, your girlfriend is about ten times worse.”

Ron tried to muster a straight face, but it only served to make him look constipated. “That isn’t very nice.” He said between chuckles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! I love reading your comments so please leave me some! Also feel free to comment some predictions! :)


	15. Betrayal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s another chapter for you! I hope you enjoy it!

I ran faster than I had in a long time. Usually Draco was with me, but not now, now I was all alone. Twisting, weaving, and soaring through the thick brush that made up this part of the Forbidden Forest. I loved my animagus form, loved being able to roam free, without worry, without the problems that plagued my human existence.

But in this form, I grew careless, and drifted too near to the grounds of Hogwarts. And my ears,inhumanly strong, picked up on feet moving through the grass a little ways off, two sets, male, adults, if I had to hazard a guess. And then I heard their voices.

“What do you do with Potter all of these nights you are closeted together in your office?” Snape asked.

I paused in my travels, crouching low to the ground and peering through the brambles and thorns, looking for any sign of my head of house and whoever it was he was speaking with.

“That,” Dumbledore said, “Is none of your concern.” They walked in silence for several minutes before Dumbledore spoke once more. “When you kill me-”

Snape interrupted, his voice angry, “You refuse to tell me everything but still expect that one small service of me?”

“You promised to do it, Severus, but now you have cold feet?” Dumbledore said, his voice hard.

“I do not understand why you can’t trust me.” Snape said, and he sounded hurt. I refused to move, fearing that any motion on my part would cause them to detect me.

“I prefer not to put all of my eggs in one basket, especially not one that spends so much time dangling off Voldemort’s arm.”

“Which I do on your orders.” Snape pointed out and I had to agree with him.

Dumbledore sighed. “Meet me in my office at eleven o’clock and you will not complain that I have no trust in you.”

I waited until their footsteps had separated from one another and faded into silence before shifting into my human form and checking my battered old watch. It was quarter past ten now. I had to hurry if I wanted to make it back into the castle and get into a position to eavesdrop on their conversation. So, I shifted back to my fox and took off onto the grounds.

My paws slid on the tiled floor as I sprinted into the girl’s bathroom on the second floor. I was human again in an instant and speaking Parseltongue to get the secret chamber to open for me.

The sinks slid apart and I hurried down, through the chambers and tunnels, past the Basilisk skeleton and finally, finally to Sal’s underground home. It was looking rather rustic today, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it, for a quick glance at my watch showed that it was nearly eleven.

“Gramps!” I called, and he rushed out of whatever he’d been, bleary eyed, but otherwise alert.

“Emma? What is it? What’s happened? Do you realize what time it is?” He asked.

“Yes, I do, which is precisely the problem, no time to explain, I need you to do that think with Brian’s portrait so we can see exactly what’s happening in Dumbledore’s office right now.” I blustered, trying to give him enough for it to make sense without wasting too much time.

“Right that, so we’re spying?” I nodded and he moved to the painting. “Sorry Brian, I’m going to need you to clear out for a bit.” Brian, apparently sleeping, didn’t respond, so Sal rapped his knuckles against the portrait, startling him and causing him to nearly fall over. “Oi! Get out, go visit your portrait in Italy for a while.” Brain blinked and then vanished, annoyance clouding his features.

“ _Speculator vultus_.” He said with a grand swish of his wand. The empty portrait began to ripple and warp like water when something interrupted the current.

As Snape and Dumbledore came into view, I asked Sal, “Why did Brian have to leave first?”

“Technically speaking, he didn’t, but to stay would have felt rather unpleasant for him and I doubt he would have appreciated it.”

“Ah, well isn’t that generous of you,” I laughed, but stopped when the scene had fully formed before us.

Dumbledore looked stricken and as though he deeply regretted the words he was about to utter. In turn, Snape appeared to be apprehensive, likely having rarely, if ever, seen Dumbledore in such a state. I held my breath, waiting for something- anything- to happen. My heartbeat thumped loud in my ears.

Finally, Dumbledore spoke, and he looked like a man who had lived through one hundred lifetimes of misery. “There is something Harry doesn’t know about himself, something that I fear he is not yet ready to learn. There is a reason he can look into Voldemort’s mind, a reason he can speak to snakes, there are times in which I believe he has come close to realizing it himself. For, that night when Voldemort went to kill Harry, as you know, Lily cast herself between them. So, when the killing curse hit Harry, it rebounded and hit Voldemort. His soul, in a last hope of survival, clung to the nearest living thing it could find. It latched itself onto Harry, like a parasitic leech, living off of his life force. A part of Voldemort lives within Harry, tethers Voldemort to life, so long as Harry lives, Voldemort can never die.”

“So the boy must die?” Snape asked.

“Yes, the boy must die, and Voldemort himself must be the one to do it, that is imperative.” Dumbledore said, importance ringing through every word. “Should we fail to save me, should you be required to kill me to spare Draco from damaging his soul in such a way, you must tell him. Once Voldemort fears for the life of his snake, keeps her close and protected, then I think it shall be the appropriate time. And if I know him, he will have arranged it so when he does walk to his death, it might mean the true end to Voldemort.”

Snape’s face had turned an angry red as Dumbledore had continued on. “All this time, everything was supposed to be to protect him- to protect Lily Evans’ son! And now you tell me that we have been raising him like a pig for slaughter!”

“It has been crucial to let him try his strength.” Dumbledore countered.

“You have used me, I have spied for you, lied for you, and now you tell me that he has to die despite everything!” Snape looked more upset than I had ever seen him.

“Oh but this is touching Severus, do you mean to tell me that after all of this time, you have learned to care for him?”

Snape’s face hardened and he ground out through gritted teeth, “Of course I have! He is her son, through and through. Kind and strong and brave! I cannot stand behind this Dumbledore, I just-”

But I didn’t hear the rest, for I had finally managed to push past the feeling of shock and betrayal that had worked its way through every fiber of my being. Dumbledore had known this whole time what Harry was, and he had done nothing to try and save him. He had accepted my brother’s death as just another means to an end, it didn’t matter, so long as he got what he wanted. A part of me whispered, he is willing to die himself for the cause. But I didn’t care, it didn’t matter, he had condemned my brother to death, even if he personally wouldn’t be the one to cast the spell that would snuff out his life.

“Emma! Wait!” Sal called after me, but I was already gone, shifted to my fox, back to the girl’s bathroom in a matter of minutes, crashing through corridors with no care for who saw me. I only returned to my human form to growl the password to the gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore’s office. It moved aside rather reluctantly, and had barely moved a foot before I was squeezing through the gap created.

Dumbledore’s wand flew from his hand with half a thought. Gellert, who had likely entered the office when he’d heard his love and Snape arguing, disarmed me quickly. But, ironically it had been him who had made it so, I didn’t need a wand to fight. I hadn’t tried the majority of these spells wandless or non-verbally, but my rage fueled me more than any practice ever could. Ropes materialize and wrapped themselves around Gellert, immobilizing him. Since he didn’t have a wand for me to take, that was the best I could do. After all, he hadn’t betrayed me, I had no quarrel with him.

Turning back to Dumbledore, I summoned my wand back to me and pointed it straight at Dumbledore’s chest. “Did you even try to find a way to save him?” I shouted. Dumbledore just looked sad, so very sad.

“Emma, it isn’t possible.” Dumbledore whispered.

“Then we let Voldemort live, detain him or something,” I said desperately. Dumbledore shook his head, his expression pitying. And that was worse than anything. I moved a step closer, my wand arm shaking from anger, my whole body was shaking from it.

“Emma, don’t.” Snape said, stepping between us. And it wasn’t pity in his face, no, it was understanding.

I couldn’t help it, the fury subsided, giving way to mind numbing despair. A grief so strong, like I had already lost my brother. It stuck in my throat, choking me, and the tears began to fall, hard and fast. My legs took me forward before I really knew what I was doing and I was crying into Snape’s robes. And he, the first father figure I had ever had, wrapped his arms around me, gently patting my back.

Behind me, I could sense Gellert moving, freeing himself from the bonds and then he moved to Dumbledore. He gave him something- probably his wand. They were whispering to each other, and I pushed back, both from their private conversation and from Snape. When I did, I saw that they weren’t talking, at least not anymore, rather Dumbledore was muttering an incantation of healing, for Gellert’s wrists bore deep gashes.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered to him, “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

He looked up and gave me an odd smile as the wounds knitted themselves together, good as new. “Severus, could you get the dittany, it’s in the third drawer on the left.” Dumbledore said, intent on healing Gellert and paying no mind to anything else. Snape obliged him, handing it over quickly, but saying nothing.

Abruptly I asked, “How long have you known that Harry was a horcrux?”

Dumbledore didn’t look at me as he began to dab the dittany into the place where the wounds had been. Apparently the area was still tender, for Gellert hissed in pain. “Sorry,” Dumbledore mumbled, then louder, “Since he destroyed the diary and I figured out what it was.”

“So nearly four years?” I asked.

Dumbledore nodded and stepped back from Gellert, examining him in search for any other possible injuries. He seemed satisfied that Gellert was in good health and turned to face me. “Yes Emma and I exercised every possibility of saving him. It is not possible unless Voldemort were to regret killing your parents, but seeing as he is incapable of feeling love, it is not possible.” His voice had a certain bite to it that I had never heard before. “How long have you known?”

I glared at him, of course he’d realized that I’d figured it out. I held my head high as I said, “I figured it out last year. That’s why I was trying so hard to find a way to save you, I thought you’d in turn be able to save him. But now it doesn’t matter, you’ve given up, that is if you ever gave a damn in the first place.”

I stalked from the office, trying for an ice cold rage, but the effect was ruined by my sniffle as I closed the door behind me. I couldn’t bare to go back to my dormitory, not yet anyway. I checked my watch, quarter to midnight.

I shifted into the fox, the fox who was able to forget that inevitably she would lose her brother. I ran through the forest until the sun peaked over the tops of the trees, its rays creeping through the thick canopy of leaves to blind me at just the right angle.

I didn’t sleep much over the weeks that followed my encounter with Dumbledore. I grew distant from everyone, except for Draco, who I told what I’d seen, leaving out the details of Dumbledore’s curse and Gellert’s presence in the castle. It was startling to me to remember that I had never told Draco that Gellert was in the castle, being hidden by Dumbledore himself. Sure we’d discussed the fact that Gellert was free, but the matter had dropped once it had become old news in the Prophets, though aurors were still out searching for him day and night, or so the ministry claimed. But now was not the right time to spring that secret on him, not when he already had so much else to bear.

All of my time was spent in my classes, dutifully doing the assigned work, in the hopes to learn something that might be of any help, in the library, reading endlessly for anything of use, or in the forest, running until my legs felt like jelly, thinking hard about any possible ways to save my brother.

Before I knew it, the Easter break was upon us.

I was walking alone in the corridor, headed to the library. Most everyone would be going home on the Hogwarts Express tomorrow morning, but I had elected to stay, for it offered ample opportunity for me to look for something that might help.

Footsteps came up behind me, several people that was for sure and they were moving quickly. Before I had time to turn back and look, they were upon me. Harry. Hermione. And Ron.

All three of them spoke at once.

“We just saw that you were on the sign up list to stay here.” Ron said.

“Why aren’t you coming back with us?” Hermione questioned.

And Harry said, “Emma, come home with us.”

It was a wonder that I understood what they’d said, but my brain was muddled from lack of sleep, so I couldn’t quite figure who to respond to. Luckily, Hermione spoke again, saving me from having to attempt at a response. “Emma, if it’s about the death eaters from last time, the ministry has placed all kinds of protections around the Burrow and no one can get to Grimmauld places, it’s safer now, nearly as safe as being here.”

“I know it is, that’s not why I’m not going back, I’m just working on something.” I explained vaguely.

“Then take a break,” Ron said.

“I can’t.” I replied. I wished there was a way I could make them understand without actually having to tell them what I was doing. But I was too tired to come up with some way to achieve that.

“So take it with you.” Harry said as though that was the most obvious solution in the world.

“You expect me to take the entire contents of the library with me to Grimmauld place?” I asked, laughing. “I don’t think Madam Pince would approve. And anyway it’s too late to change my mind, not that I have. Just do me a favor and say hi to Teddy, tell him I love him.”

“Tell him yourself.” Harry said stubbornly.

I sighed. “I’m not coming, Harry. I’m sorry, really, but this is too important.”

“What is this project of yours anyway?’ Hermione asked.

“I can’t tell you.” I invented wildly, “Dumbledore asked me to do something for him. I never thought it would be easy, but its proving to be drastically more difficult than I’d imagined.”

“Dumbledore gave you a job to do?” Harry asked. I nodded. “Does it have to do with Slughorn?”

“What? No, why?” I asked, confused. What the hell was Harry talking about?

“Never mind, it’s nothing.” Harry mumbled.

I didn’t press the issue.

***

The Hogwarts Express had gone, and with it went Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Draco had stayed behind, but he was spending the majority of his time in the Room of Requirement. With me in the library so much, he hardly saw each other. The castle felt odd, abandoned with so few of us here. Usually there were very few people who stayed back, sure, but this was different. The emptiness was palpable, because we knew many absences were products of the war, not holiday family visits.

I was in the Great Hall, about to turn in for the night when the mark on my arm began to burn. I looked to the teacher’s table and saw that Snape had felt it too. But Draco, it seemed, had not. He had been mid sentence, talking with Theo, when the sensation had begun and he hadn’t so much as stuttered, nor did any of his body language signify that he’d felt it. It happened again, more painful this time. I did my best to act natural as I stood up, kissed Draco on the temple, and said, “I’m going to sneak into the library.”

“Okay, just make sure you come back early enough to get some sleep.” He squeezed my hand softly before letting me go.

***

It wasn’t hard to sneak out of the castle, and once I was out, I shifted into my fox and took off across the grounds. Once I was sure I was out of the the Hogwarts anti-apparation barrier, I returned to my human form and disapparated.

I hadn’t originally intended on going to any of Voldemort’s meetings after Christmas, I was just going to ignore him until he realized that I held no loyalty to him. But what Dumbledore had said stuck with me. The only way to save Harry would be for Voldemort to regret killing your parents. Thereby that piece of his soul would be reunited with his body and no longer in Harry, meaning there would be no need for Harry to die at all.

Once my insides were finished churning, I took in my surroundings. I was on a neatly paved drive, lined by excellently manicured hedges that stretched high over my head. Directly before me was a looming black gate. It looked like something you would find at the entrance to a graveyard or an abandoned mansion. Possibly even a haunted house. In other words, it was perfect for the first line of defense for Voldemort’s base.

But then arose the problem of how to get in. I knew a dark mark was necessary to enter, but was I meant to do something? Say something? I reached forward to touch one of the bars, in the hope that something would happen, only for my hand to go straight through it. I laughed and walked through, heading for Malfoy manor. It felt ominous now, dark and dangerous.

I took a deep breath and pushed open the front door. They were in the dining room, just off the entrance hall to the left. Half of the chairs were still empty, which I hoped meant I wasn’t late. “Ah, Emma,” Voldemort greeted, “Good of you to join us.”

I wasn’t sure what the proper response was, so I merely bowed my head in both recognition and submission. I hated it. Snape was already there, sitting at the far end of the table from where I stood. I strode over to a seat nearby and settled myself in it.

I snuck a look at Snape and found him to be staring straight ahead, his face expressionless. He was a fantastic actor, I had to admit, betraying no surprise or anger at seeing me here. Had he been expecting me to show up? Did he think I was siding with Voldemort now or did he realize that I was merely hoping I could plant some guilt in Voldemort’s mind?

We sat in silence for several long minutes as more death eaters joined us, until finally, everyone had arrived. The meeting was long and dull, and since I had nothing of substance to contribute, I spent the majority of it in silence. Voldemort was working to achieve three things for the moment; recruiting more witches and wizards for his ranks, infiltrating and overthrowing the ministry, and bringing about the death of Albus Dumbledore. It wasn’t until Voldemort addressed the third goal that he addressed me for details. I lied, telling him Draco and I had a plan in progress that would lead to Dumbledore’s death before June. Surprisingly, Voldemort seemed satisfied with my incredibly vague answer.

On the other hand, Bellatrix didn’t believe a word of it. She was far smarter than him and less predictable, maybe she was a bigger threat than I’d realized. All I could really do for the time being was stay away from her and hope she would keep her distance from me too.

In all, the meeting took just under four hours. By the end of it I was exhausted and in no mood to apparate back to Hogwarts. But with the knowledge of how worried Draco would be if I didn’t come to bed, I stood, stretching my aching limbs, and headed out into the frigid air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave me some comments! I love reading them!


	16. Difficult Decisions

I made haste in my journey back to the castle, knowing full well that I had already been gone long enough for Draco to begin worrying. I was hoping he had become so caught up in trying to do whatever he was doing in the Room of Requirement that he’d failed to notice. I tore across the grounds and into the castle.

Despite the frozen air, by the time I reached our common room, I was sweating and out of breath. It certainly was in contrast with the lie that I’d snuck into the library. Luckily, the common room was deserted. I took a moment to compose myself before, heading up to mine and Draco’s dormitory.

Another bit of luck met me when I entered to find that Draco wasn’t here. I opened my shelf of the nightstand and unfolded the Marauder’s map. Sure enough, Draco was nowhere to be found on the map, meaning he was likely in the Room of Requirement, or more specifically, the Room of Hidden Things.

There was no use in me going to try and find him, I would surely only get lost again if I tried. I sat down at the desk, Saffron, Rogue and Callisto were curled in the little bed I’d transfigured for them. They’d gotten bigger, practically full grown now. Latte and Emmett wrestling on the floor, rolling about as Honey watched.

‘How long has Draco been gone?’ I asked Honey. The Parseltongue came easier than ever before. When she answered, I didn’t need to take the moment to translate her hisses, I simply understood. It was a welcome change.

‘He left just after you did.’ She hissed.

I sighed and settled myself on our bed. Voldemort was looking for a war, and if that was what he sought, surely that was what the wizarding world as I knew it would end in. The only question was; which way would it go? I knew one thing for certain, I wouldn’t live in a world that Voldemort had control over. I would have to leave, or die trying to kill him.

I was absolutely exhausted, but my mind was restless. It simply refused sleep.

Draco got back a few hours later. He crept into the room softly, not even turning on the light. I knew he was trying to keep from waking me, so I feigned sleep. Had he made any progress in what he was trying to do? A part of me hoped he had. If he succeeded in killing Dumbledore, then all of this would be over.

But no, I didn’t want Draco to become a murderer. And even less did I want him to kill Dumbledore. It was one thing for him to kill a death eater, but quite another for him to kill the only person Voldemort wanted dead just as much as my brother.

In the end, the sun rose before sleep had claimed me. I peered out the window I’d created last year. It looked into the Great Lake, which was flecked with rays of golden sunlight. In the edge of my vision, I thought I saw one of the Giant Squid’s tentacles, but by the time I’d looked fully it was gone.

I rolled out of our bed and stretched my arms over my head, trying to loosen my tight limbs. Draco showed no signs of waking anytime soon so I got ready, then headed out to go get some breakfast. I had barely made it out of the common room when Snape intercepted me. He opened his mouth to say something but then his eyes flickered to something behind me. I turned to see Slughorn strolling down the corridor in our direction.

“Miss. Evans, my office, if you please,” He said dryly.

“Oh, Severus, she’s not in trouble, is she?” Slughorn asked, reaching us, “She is one of my brightest students, very like her mother.”

“I do not doubt it, but as her head of house, I have matters that I need to discuss with her.” Snape said, his annoyance barely staying masked.

Slughorn gave me a sympathetic look before continuing on down the corridor. Silently, I followed Snape to his office. Despite the fact that he was no longer the potions master, his office was still filled with various ingredients and books on brewing, infusing, fermenting and dozens of other things.

I pulled the door shut behind myself and leaned against it with my arms crossed. Snape sat behind his desk and motioned for me to take the opposite seat. When I didn’t move, he began to speak.

“Listen, Emma, I get it, you’re angry that Albus seems to have given up on your brother living through this ongoing conflict, but that in no way means you should side with the Dark Lord.”

“I’m not.” I said, “He called me, so I went.”

“Yes, but Emma, we’ve talked about this, you said you only joined up to save the lives of Granger and the Weasleys. You were meant to ignore his summons and stay here, where you’re safe, not begin plotting ways to help Draco kill Albus.”

“I’m not.”

“Not what?”

“Helping him. I lied, made it up. And I couldn’t just ignore his summons, if I had, then he’d have known I was lying before and he would have tasked either you or Draco, likely the latter, with killing me. And then, when whoever it was failed to do so, he would have known that you or Draco wasn’t on his side either and that wouldn’t lead anywhere good.”

Snape sighed, massaging his temples, and said, much quieter than before, “It’s my job to protect you, I cannot condone you sneaking out of the castle on your own and going there. Especially with you lying to him, he could see through it at any moment.”

“Isn’t that exactly what you’ve been doing all this time?” I spat.

“Yes, but it’s different, I’m of age, Emma you’re fifteen.”

“Harry fought Voldemort on his own when he was eleven.” I shot back.

“And if we could have stopped that from happening, we would have, none of the staff here knew that Quirrell was keeping the Dark Lord on the back of his head.”

“If he calls me again, I’m going back. And I will continue to go back until I can stop without jeopardizing the safety of you or Draco.”

Snape just stared at me for a long time before he finally said, “I can’t stop you if you try, I’m not foolish enough to think I can, short of taking your wand and locking you in a Gringotts vault, but I won’t tell you its right.”

***

I’d finished eating before Draco came down, so I brought him back a plate, left it on the bedside table and headed out to the Hogwarts grounds. I hadn’t visited Hagrid in far too long, and I needed to get outside anyway.

I knocked on Hagrid’s hut door and waited. It was warm out, but the clouds were dark and covered the whole sky, it would rain soon. I shifted my weight back and forth between my feet as I waited. “Come in!” Hagrid’s voice boomed from within. I opened the door and walked in, closing it quickly behind me.

I was meant with an odd sight.

Hagrid was at his large table, slicing up some sort of animal. But he wasn’t using any sort of knife, rather he was hacking away at the thing with his flowery pink umbrella that concealed his broken- and mended- wand. “Ah! Hey there, Emma, haven’t seen you in a while, outside of classes, of course, been alright up there in the castle?”

“Yes, I’ve been good, busy too, I’m sorry I didn’t stop by sooner.” I said, watching him saw at a particularly stubborn bit of the animal.

“Oh, it’s alright, Hermione, Ron and Harry were only able to come down once since Christmas, I know you’ve got a lot of homework.” He said, pushing the already chopped hunks to the far end of his table.

“Yeah... homework...” I said distractedly, my attention fixed on the carnage, “What is that?”

Hagrid looked up, as though expecting to see something strange before us. After a moment he exclaimed, “Oh this, er, its nothing, just an Erymanthian Boar that I ran into in the Forbidden Forest.”

“Wait, I thought those were only in Greece, a book I read in the library- Obscure Beasts Continued or something like that- said they were only found there, and extremely rare anyway.” I said, squinting at the torn apart animal, trying to find anything that would identify it for what it was.

“Yeah well wizarding scum smuggle creatures they can’t handle and then they get loose and cause trouble.” Hagrid growled, angry with the wizards in question.

“What were you doing in the Forbidden Forest anyways?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, yer brother didn’t tell you?” Hagrid asked. I shook my head. “I’ve got a half brother- Grawp- who’s living in there. He’s a full grown giant see, though a bit of a runt, I’m making him a stew, that’s what this is for.” He explained and gestured towards the boar.

“Huh,” I said. “I’m surprised I haven’t seen him. I explore the forest at night sometimes.”

“You be careful doing that,” Hagrid warned, “Ancient beasts have found their way into that forest in these past few months, they can sense the battle to come, I think. Aragog’s children fought with some Aqrabuamelus a couple weeks back, huge blood bath, that was. And a few leshiye made their way here from Russia. You might have heard them, they shriek in the middle of the night sometimes.

“The Aqrabuamelus are all dead, they were outnumbered by the Acromantula, ten to one. But those leshiye are dangerous, wolves and bears flock to them, and if they have leshachikha and leshonki with them, well we’d better hope Dumbledore’s protective wards hold. Of course they will, as long as a Svyatibog doesn’t show up, at least.”

“Hagrid...” I started slowly, “Svyatibog aren’t usually violent and leshiye are really only dangerous to muggles, a simple stunning spell is enough to take one down.”

“Er, right, I forgot about yer wand.” I laughed and asked, “So, would you like any help, making the stew?”

“Yeah, that’d be good,” Hagrid said cheerily.

***

The day before classes were supposed to start back up, I decided to pay Salazar a visit. I knewhe’d be worrying over the way I had left on my last visit. I had jinxed Brian’s portrait in mine and Draco’s room, to keep him from coming to see us. It had worked and I had felt bad about it ever since.

So, I snuck out of the Slytherin common room at ten o’clock that night and crept up to the girl’s bathroom. It was quick for me to make my way to Salazar’s underground house.

This time it was quaint and like a cabin you would find in the woods. It was warm and homey, with candles that made the room spell like a mixture of pine, lumber and s’mores. Salazar was sitting beside a roaring health in a lush armchair with a book propped in his lap. One hand turned the pages as the other wrapped around his mug of tea, sipping leisurely. Behind his head, on the back of the chair, his cat was curled, asleep.

I coughed lightly, and his eyes flickered up to meet mine. As soon as he recognized me, he jumped from his chair, startling the cat, and moved over to me, taking my hands in him. His lips didn’t move, but still I heard his words.

‘ _I am so very sorry that Dumbledore has given up on your brother. Every one of my contacts is searching for a way to save him- without knowing the circumstances of course- but there has been little progress on that front. On the other hand, if you still want it, we have found a way to save Dumbledore. It isn’t a definite solution, but it might work. I developed it myself, a cure to his curse_.’

He turned my hands over, palms up, and two little vials appeared in them. Inside of the first, there was a bright liquid, so thick that it could barely be considered a liquid, more of a paste or salve of sorts. It was a beautiful sea green dusted with gold and silver flecks. The second was a deep violet and most certainly a liquid, sloshing around the vial with my slightest movement.

‘ _He must drink the purple one and the blue one must be applied to the damaged part- his hand, especially on the finger in which he wore the ring. Apply it there the thickest and then lighter and lighter up his arm until it is gone.’_

I held the two vials up the light and squinted at them. “What’s in them?” I asked.

“Oh, this and that.” He replied evasively.

I raised an eyebrow at him quizzically. “Right.” I said slowly.

“Will you give it to him?” Sal questioned. He summoned me my own mug. I sipped at it to find hot cocoa topped with whipped cream and cinnamon- my favorite.

I shrugged taking a large gulp. The drink burned my throat the whole way down. I ignored it and took another. “I don’t know yet. I thank you for this, but I’m not quite sure he deserves it.”

“Do not think of him too harshly,” Sal advised, “It is a difficult situation... horcruxes... and you have no idea what efforts Dumbledore may have put in towards saving your brother. I have had many of the most brilliant, successful and resourceful witches and wizards on the issue and we have all come up empty. Nothing short of Voldemort’s actions themselves can reverse it.”

“He still gave up.” I argued, though the situation had begun to feel hopeless. No! I couldn’t think like that. If I started thinking like that, if I let the doubt creep in, if I lost hope, then I would give up and be no better than Dumbledore himself.

The longer Sal and I talked, the more I began to understand Dumbledore’s position when it came to Harry’s fate. Sal explained all that Brian had reported to him of Dumbledore’s efforts, his research on horcruxes. Nothing had worked.

But Sal warned me not to give up hope either, he would keep looking. Everyone would keep looking.

A while after midnight I headed back to my dormitory, the two vials clutched tightly in my fists. I knew I would need to give the cure to Dumbledore soon if I wanted him to live, but something in my pride kept me from bringing it to him immediately.

I still wasn’t entirely sure whether or not I could give it to him. He had given up on my brother. He had failed to protect my parents too. I was an orphan because he couldn’t keep them safe. I was an orphan because of his incompetence. And I would lose my brother because of him too.

Once I reached our room, I stuffed the vials into a pair of old socks in the back of my drawer, and collapsed into the bed. Draco pulled me into him and wrapped an arm around my waist. He was warm and comfortable. So I leaned into him, hoping the solidarity would offer me some clarity.

“What’s wrong?” He whispered into my ear. Then into my mind, he said, ‘ _Your mind feels troubled_.’

“I’m alright,” I replied, but he wasn’t buying it. I decided to tell him, not in so many details, but enough for him to offer some insight. “Say someone is in trouble. Someone who betrayed someone else, something bad will happen to the first and the second has the power to stop it, but they aren’t sure if they really want to. If you were the second person, what would you do?” I asked.

He was smart enough to know that I was the second person, but he humored me and didn’t mention it. “I don’t know, Em. It depends how horrible the betrayal was and what was going to happen to the first person if the second doesn’t intervene. It depends if you- er- the second person would be able to live with themselves, knowing they could have stopped that thing from happening.”

I sighed, knowing I had gotten my answer.


	17. Two Times Murdered, Two Times Revenged

I glared daggers at the drawer, pretending like I could see those damned vials within. I stood, my intention to get them and take them to Dumbledore immediately, but I faltered. Something tugged at my mind, it was an instinct that I had long since learned to heed. Instead, I reached for my map. “I solemnly swear I am up to no good.” I whispered. If my instincts were right, then someone in the castle was up to no good, at least.

I scanned it, searching for any sign of something amiss. Had Draco succeeded in whatever he was doing? Was he going to kill Dumbledore at any moment. But no, there he was in the boy’s bathroom on the sixth floor with Moaning Myrtle. That was a bit odd but nothing to be- Shit.

I sprung back, and tore from the room. Behind me, the map fell to the floor, my brother’s little footprints mere centimeters from my boyfriend’s. I ran through the corridors faster than I had thought was possible in my human form, ignoring the questioning calls and worried shouts from my classmates and teachers.

When I reached the bathroom, I knew I was too late, they were already fighting. “Sectumsempra!” Harry shouted and there was a splash and thud, a body hitting the water covered floor.

“Murder! Murder in the bathroom!” Myrtle was shouting, far too much glee ringing through her voice.

“No, no, no, I didn’t mean-” Harry said, his voice shaky.

“Murder!”

I shoved past Harry and crouched by Draco’s side. He was taking gasping breaths and body was spilling from his chest by the bucketful. He would be dead within minutes if I didn’t act fast. I tore away his shirt to reveal deep cuts that crisscrossed all over his chest, as though he’d been repeatedly cut with a sword.

“Murder, murder in the bathroom!” Myrtle screamed, positively beaming now.

“Where did you learn that spell?!” I shouted over Myrtle. Harry didn’t answer, he was just staring at Draco, his mouth open slightly, petrified by what he’d done. I stabbed through his mind, ripping bits and pieces of memory out of my way until I found what I was looking for. He’d read it, in an old potions book, Snape’s old potions book. I bulldozed my way through his mind, but there was no counter curse to be found.

“Murder!”

“Hang in there,” I whispered, turning back to Draco. He grasped at my hand, but it was his only acknowledgment that I was there. He continued to gasp out sobbing breaths. “Snape’s coming.” And it was true, I could feel Snape’s mind drawing nearer, drawn by Myrtle’s screams.

Just then, Snape came crashing in, splashing water everywhere as he did. He took one look at Draco and dropped to his knees on Draco’s other side. “ _Vulnera Sanentur!_ ” He chanted under his breath, over and over. Slowly, the wounds began to grow shallower, and knit themselves together. I sighed in relief as Draco’s sobs ebbed.

I looked up at Harry, who was staring down at the three of us, guilt and fear mingled on his face. “You idiot.” I hissed, but there was little animosity behind it. I knew he hadn’t meant to do it, he hadn’t been trying to fatally injure Draco. Even so, he had nearly killed him with his stupidity, so I was a little angry.

“Come, there will be some scarring, but if we get you to the hospital wing quickly enough, we may avoid even that.” Snape said, helping Draco to his feet. Draco leaned heavily on Snape, pain screwing up his face. “You two, stay here, I’ll be back.” Snape said, with a pointed glare at Harry and me. Then he turned to Myrtle and said, “That’s enough of that.” She gave him a disappointed pout and soared into the u-bend of a toilet, sending more water to the floor.

As soon as Snape was gone with Draco propped against him, I turned on Harry, my arms crossed and asked, “What happened?”

Immediately he began to speak, as though he had been dying to explain ever since I had arrived, “I followed Draco out of the Room of Requirement- He’s up to something, even if you won’t believe it!- and he came in here and started crying and he was talking to Moaning Myrtle, saying how nobody could help him and he couldn’t do it and if he didn’t do it soon, someone would kill him.

“And I didn’t attack him, I swear, but he looked up and saw me in the mirror. He turned around and tried to hex me, so of course I started to fight back, Emma, I wasn’t just going to let him curse me. I saw that spell, sectumsempra, in a book somewhere and it said ‘for enemies.’ I didn’t know what it did, I’m sorry, I wouldn’t have- if I’d known- but he- I- I didn’t think it would do that- would kill him.”

I sighed and massaged my temples. “Why can’t you just leave it alone?” I asked, my voice soft. “Even if he is a death eater, which I don’t think he is, it doesn’t sound like he wants to be, it sounds like he might be being blackmailed.”

“You sound like Dumbledore.” Harry muttered.

“You talked to Dumbledore about this?” I scoffed, “And he told you the same thing! Don’t you think he’d know if Draco was a death eater?”

Harry shook his head, “Dumbledore always sees the best in people.”

I couldn’t argue with that, after all it was true. Dumbledore had forgiven the man who had killed his sister, who had committed almost as many horrible crimes as Voldemort. “Draco isn’t evil.”

“How can you be so sure of that?” He asked me.

“The same way I’m sure you weren’t trying to kill him; I just am.”

Harry opened his mouth to retort, but just then, Snape returned. “Will he be okay?” I asked.

Snape nodded, “Madam Pomfrey is tending to him, she says there will be scarring, it was unavoidable, but he will be alright after a couple of days of bed rest. Now, tell me what happened.”

Harry went first, explaining his side of things, then I told Snape of my gut feeling of dread and how I’d seen them together on the map. He listened in silence until we had both finished.

“Mr. Potter, you deserve to be expelled for this,” Snape began, “But, Draco will be fine, so detention every Saturday for the rest of the year should suffice.” I wasn’t sure why Snape was being so lenient with Harry. Whether it was because he knew Harry would need all of the schooling he could get to destroy horcruxes, Harry would be in terrible danger if he wasn’t at the school, he pitied Harry for having death near in his future, unavoidable, or simply because he knew Harry hadn’t meant for it to happen, I was grateful.

“But sir! Quidditch! The final match- for the Cup- is on Saturday!” Leave it to Harry to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Leave, professor, he can’t miss the last Quidditch match,” I said, then into his mind, I added, ‘ _We can’t give the Gryffindor’s an excuse for when they lose.’_

“Fine, detention every Saturday for the rest of the year, except for on the day of the Quidditch match.” Snape amended. “Go.” Without another word, Harry raced out of the bathroom. Snape turned to me and said, “You’d better beat him.”

“Don’t worry,” I promised, “I will.”

***

The final Quidditch match that would determine who won the Quidditch Cup was three Saturdays away. I ramped up the Slytherin team’s practices to be five times per week, there was no way I was going to let us lose to the Gryffindors.

If we won with a margin of thirty or more points, we would finish first. If we won by a margin of anything less than that we would come in second to Ravenclaw. If we lost with a margin of less than sixty points, we would come in third, below Gryffindor. And if we lost by anything more than that then we’d come in below Hufflepuff at dead last.

As soon as Draco had been released from the hospital wing, I had made him swear that he wouldn’t miss the match. I just needed something normal in my life to focus on, just for a moment.

I didn’t bring up what Harry had told me of Draco’s breakdown in the bathroom, he would confide in me when he was ready, I had no intentions of pushing the issue, no matter how much I wanted him to talk to me.

***

The Saturday before the last match, I went to visit Harry in detention, interested to see what Snape was having him do. I found them in the caretaker’s office, going through the old records of past student’s wrong doings. Harry’s task was to rewrite the ones that had become faded or damaged. I had a god laugh, reading about the mischief my dad and Sirius had gotten up to to land themselves in detention, occasionally accompanied by Peter and even more rarely with Remus. They made up more than half of the records from their time at school.

I left just before Harry was dismissed and headed back to the Slytherin common room. “Where were you?” Asked Daphne, who was lounging on one of the plush sofas. Pansy, who was curled up in an armchair, reading a book, looked up and closed it. Blaise was sitting on the floor, with his back against the chair, trained his attention on me too.

“And why are you smiling so much?” He asked.

“I was in Harry’s detention, looking at my dad’s reasons for getting detention when he was in school. There were about a hundred different things just in his first year.” I had told the rest of my friend group of my true parentage and relation to Harry a while back, after Sirius had ‘died’ and I’d become a secret keeper.

“And why were you hanging around Harry Potter?” Crabbe spat, materializing seemingly out of no where.

“None of your damn business,” I shot back. Unlike Draco, Crabbe genuinely wanted to be a death eater and he loved the dark arts. I hated him for it. Goyle too.

“Watch your mouth, little halfblood,” Goyle hissed at me, appearing beside Crabbe.

“You’re one to talk,” Daphne said lazily with a mock yawn, “Aren’t you part troll?”

They started towards her, wands drawn, when Blaise and Pansy got to their feet, bringing out their own wands. Everyone else in the common room had gone silent, watching us nervously. Most of the younger ones quietly began gathering up their things and retreating into their dorm rooms.

“You’ll pay for that,” Crabbe growled. “ _Crucio!_ ” Daphne reacted just in time, rolling over the back of the sofa and ducking behind it. The spell collided with the cushion where her head had been moments before.

“How dare you!” Pansy shouted, “You disgusting pig!” I couldn’t help but agree with her. I was tempted to use sectumsempra on him with no Moaning Myrtle around to call for help. Sure, I knew how to heal it now, but that didn’t mean that I would.

“Really, Vincent, an unforgivable, how horribly... mundane.” I drawled, twirling my wand between my fingers. “How about a duel?” That surprised him. He faltered, another curse on the tip of his tongue, but never uttered. “I could use the practice, two on one, should be fun. You and Goyle, against me. And I’ll make it even more fun.” I said and tossed my wand into an empty armchair a few meters away. They looked at me suspiciously. “What? Are you scared?” I taunted, smirking. I was itching for a fight, and they were asking for it.

They looked at each other and then back to me.

My friends looked on in horror, but didn’t intervene. I knew they wanted to see what would happen just as much as I did.

Then they raised their wands.

_Yes!_

Goyle sent a stunning spell at the same time as Crabbe aimed another cruciatus curse my way. I blocked the stunning spell and sidestepped the unforgivable. Silently, I promised myself to try and do this with only nonverbal spells. I flung a jet of molten fire at Crabbe, he ducked, but I heard the sizzling that meant it had gotten his hair. I laughed and he let out a growl that hardly sounded human. He waved his wand over and over, and I saw the green light that meant he was shooting to kill now, though the blood was rushing in my ears too loudly for me to hear his incantations.

I summoned one of the stone statues that lined the back wall in front of me. The first killing curse that hit it simply dispelled, the second ricocheted off and hit the ceiling, the third, fourth and fifth began to chip away at the statue and the sixth caused it to explode in a volley of crumbling pieces. I shielded my eyes as the rumble and dust filled the air. When I opened my eyes, everyone was coughing.

I flicked my wrist and thick black cords shot forward and snaked around Goyle’s limbs and throat. His wand fell from his hand and clanged on the floor as his face began to purple. While I was focused on Goyle, Crabbe sent another killing curse and this time I wasn’t prepared. It found its mark and hit my collarbone. I stared down at the spot as time froze. It stung, but nothing more. I let out a low breath and looked back up at Crabbe, whose face was pale and scared. I smirked at him and cooed, “Oh, didn’t your daddy ever teach you, you’ve got to mean it.” Wasn’t that what Crouch- disguised as Remus- had taught us two years ago? _Avada Kedavra’s A curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it, you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I’d get so much as a nosebleed._

In a simple motion, I had him disarmed and pinned against the wall. “Surrender.” I hissed.

Just then the door to the common room opened and Draco and Snape walked in. I froze. Snape surveyed the room and asked, “What’s going on?”

Pansy, who was wide eyed and white faced was the first to speak, “He tried to use an unforgivable on Daphne, the cruciatus.” She pointed from Crabbe to the cushion that was blackened from the spell.

“And they started attacking Emma!” Pansy added, “She doesn’t even have her wand.” She gestured to where it lay abandoned on the chair.

“Crabbe hit her with a killing curse,” Blaise said, his voice soft and awestruck. “But she didn’t die, it didn’t kill her.”

Draco moved forward, his face angrier than I’d ever seen it. “You did what?” He growled, his animagus form, the wolf, showing through to his human form.

Snape waved his wand and Goyle and Crabbe collapsed to the ground, unconscious. He strode over to me. “Where were you hit?” His voice was all business, a doctor with his patient.

I pulled aside my shirt, revealing my collarbone. Everyone gasped, there snaking out from the center point of where the curse had hit, was a scar, just like Harry’s, like lightning moving across the sky.

“Hospital wing, now,” Snape hissed, even he had gone a shade paler. “Is anyone else hurt?”

“I’m fine,” I protested. He gave me a look that said, don’t even bother arguing, I will not change my mind.

Everyone else shook their heads to indicate that they were uninjured. “Miss. Greengrass, get the headmaster, tell him to alert the minister that he will need to send someone to collect Crabbe. Did Goyle use any unforgivables?”

“No,” I said.

“Then he will not be expelled or sent to Azkaban, but detention, lots of it. But Crabbe, he’ll rot.” Snape shook his head. “Miss. Parkinson, Mr. Zabini, you will need to come to the hospital wing too, Miss. Greengrass, stay there once you retrieve the headmaster. I’m sure the ministry will need your statements for Crabbe’s arrest.”

I thought back to my first year at Hogwarts as we walked to the hospital wing. Crabbe used to be my friend, and now- I felt bad, after all, I had tempted them into the duel. The scar on my collarbone burned and my mind hardened, he had tried to use the cruciatus curse on Daphne, and he’d tried to kill me. I hadn’t forced him to do anything. He had chosen this. If he had declined my offer to duel, if he’d walked away, I would have let him go, I wouldn’t have attacked him.

Students gaped as us as we passed, with Goyle and Crabbe bobbing along through the air, levitated by Snape. McGonagall came bustling up, just before we made it into the hospital wing. “What is going on?” She asked, her voice stern.

“Crabbe used the killing curse on a student.” Snape said shortly.

McGonagall gasped, “What student?”

“Me,” I whispered, and pulled aside my collar. A third year Ravenclaw girl, the only other person in that corridor, had overheard and dashed away. Surely she would go to dinner and tell every one of her friends. The whole school would know within the hour.

McGonagall followed us to the hospital wing. “I will inform Remus and Sirius of what has happened.”

“No, don’t!” I jolted, “You’ll give them a heart attack, and I’m fine, there is no reason to worry them with this.”

“I agree with her,” Snape said, looking to McGonagall, “Surely they will be here next Saturday for the Quidditch match, if there are any lasting effects, or there is cause to tell them then, we will. But I see no immediate need to call upon them.”

Madam Pomfrey bustled over to us. “What is it?”

“Goyle is in need of medical attention. He, Crabbe and Evans got into a fight and she strangled him with cords. He may also have damage to his ribs, wrists and ankles. Crabbe likely has a severe concussion, she slammed his head against a concrete wall. And she was hit by a killing curse.” Snape explained casually.

Madam Pomfrey dropped a bottle of dittany in surprise. “I must have misheard- what?”

“Crabbe hit Evans with a killing curse.” Snape repeated.

Madam Pomfrey looked to be on the verge of fainting as she approached me. “Where?” She asked, barely a breath. I showed her and she staggered back, her hand coming up to her mouth.

“Honestly, I’m fine. I feel great.” I said.

Dumbledore and Daphne strode into the hospital wing just then. Dumbledore came over and examined my scar. After a long time he said, “It seems that survival runs in the family.”

“You say to the orphan,” I said with a laugh.

“You and your brother have now both survived the very thing that killed your parents.” Dumbledore said.

“I know my mum shielded my brother from Voldemort, could that protection be on me too?” I asked.

Dumbledore shook his head, “You were in no danger that night, Voldemort had no intention of killing you, much less any idea that you even existed. And even if it was, it would do nothing for you against Crabbe.” Dumbledore cast Crabbe a look that made it clear why Voldemort was so afraid of him. That very look could cause trees to wither, lakes to dry, hell to freeze over.

The rest of it was quite the ordeal, with a ministry wizard interviewing each of us before taking Crabbe away to be brought to Azkaban. Madam Pomfrey had announced that I would need to spend the night and all of tomorrow in the hospital wing so she could monitor my health, something that I was trying very hard to fight. Unfortunately the sentiment was shared by everyone present, including Draco.

Suddenly, Hermione burst inside, her face pale and lined with worry. “Oh my- Emma! Thank god! You’re okay! Oh, the rumors that have been going around the school, everyone is saying Crabbe hit you with the killing curse!”

I sighed and told her everything that had happened. “Where’s Harry?”

“He doesn’t know anything yet, he’s still down at the Quidditch pitch with Ron, Ginny and the rest of the team, they’ve had practice this whole time, but I had to come, see for myself.”

“Oh! I nearly forgot! Draco, I need you to lead Quidditch practice today and tomorrow, we can’t let this minor setback keep us from the cup.” He raised his eyebrows at me, but I gave him a glare and he nodded grudgingly.

***

The final Quidditch match was upon us. Against her better judgement, Madam Pomfrey had cleared me to play, as of Tuesday night. 

In the locker room, we huddled up. “Everyone, remember we need to win by at least thirty points, chasers, try to get us one hundred and eighty points ahead, just in case, beaters, keeper, don’t let them score. I’ll get the snitch.” I said. It wasn’t much of a pep talk, but we’d been flying better than ever before, and my team had never really needed a pep talk, they just won on skill, they didn’t need the extra motivation.

Before we headed onto the pitch, Draco added, “Let’s get this done quick.”

“Why?” I joked, “Got places to be?”

“No, but you were recently hit with a killing curse, no need to press our luck out there.”

I rolled my eyes and led us out.

The roar of the crowd was deafening as we walked out, the Slytherins led by me, the Gryffindors led by Harry. We strode straight for each other, our brooms clutched tightly at hand. I held my head high and let a half smile play across my face. Despite what everyone had been saying, I was quite alright. The duel had been exhilarating, and more fun than I’d had in ages. I was ready for this. Harry and I met in the center of the pitch. We shook hands.

“Good luck,” I offered.

“You too.” He replied.

I turned back, rejoining my team, over my shoulder I called, “I don’t need it, but you certainly will.”

“Mount your brooms!” Madam Hooch called and she released the snitch and bludgers. “Keepers to your posts!” They flew off. “Three...” I scanned the crowd, searching. There were Daphne, Pansy, Theo, Tracey and Blaise sitting together. “Two...” And there was Hermione, sitting with Lavender and Neville. “One...” And in the next box over, Sirius, Remus and Teddy, and a little ways back in the same box, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Snape and a man I didn’t recognize- Gellert with polyjuice potion, I determined. She blew her whistle and I kicked off from the ground as hard as I could. I soared into the air as she threw up the Quaffle. I went high, above the posts, above the game, so I could look onto the whole game with ease.

Draco was first to the Quaffle, ripping it from the air and tearing through all of the Gryffindor chasers. A moment later our first ten points were scored. I reminded myself to focus on the task at hand. I had to find the snitch. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Harry watching me. Not entirely sated from the duel of last week, I was in the mood for games. So, I feigned seeing the snitch and went into a nosedive. The crowd gasped and I glanced up, just to make sure Harry hadn’t actually seen the real snitch. He was hot on my tail, his eyes darting back and forth, searching for the little golden orb with wings.

I was less than a meter from the ground when I pulled up out of the dive. Harry- damn his reflexes- pulled out too, just in time and did a flip through the air.

“Show off.” I laughed.

“You’ve got to try harder than that,” He teased back, grinning at me. But I wasn’t paying attention, because fluttering up in the stands, just above Luna’s roaring lion hat, was the snitch.

I shot past Harry, determined to not lose sight of it. It hovered in place, but I knew its tricks. I was prepared for it to dart away at the last moment. Behind me, I felt Harry following again, and I knew he’d seen it too this time, he was gaining on me. To my right, Draco scored yet again, and the Slytherins erupted in cheers, while the Gryffindors chorused boos echoed about. _Shit!_ I’d lost my focus, I couldn’t see it. But Harry still did.

I couldn’t risk it, I pulled up short, and forced myself to crash into him. It did the trick, and he lost it too.

“Ouch,” He groaned, glaring at me.

“Sorry,” I said sweetly. And leisurely began circling the pitch, looking for the snitch. Harry followed suit, but rather than going clockwise like me, he went counterclockwise.

Twenty minutes passed with no luck, we were winning, but not by much, when I spotted it. It was about midway between the two of us, but Harry had his back to it. If I went for it, the crowd would alert him. So I continued on my circle, keeping it in my line of sight. I was so close, so close. Almost there, just a little farther and then I could break my pattern and go for it.But it was moving away from me and Harry was about to round the bend and then he’d be facing it.

If he got it, then we’d finish below Hufflepuff, last, I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t lead my team to that!

I went for it just as Harry came around to face me. He put on a burst of speed and came at me, the snitch glinting in the sunlight between us. The crowd was screaming and cheering and below us, everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch. We were the same distance away now, I leaned forward, reaching out my hand and- Harry and I were about to collide, less than a meter separated us when I snatched the snitch out of the air and spun out of the way, missing Harry by millimeters.


	18. The Fox and the Wolf

I flew to the ground and landed softly, the snitch still in my palm. Within seconds my team had tackled me into a giant bear hug. It was a long time before they released me. Once they did, I turned back around to see Harry standing there. I strode over to him and shook his hand, “Good job.”

“Guess you were right on that luck bit, I really shouldn’t have given you mine,” He said. He was taking the blow stoically enough, better than Ron at least, who was sulking a ways back.

I shrugged and said, “Oh yeah, I’m sure that’s the only reason you lost.” I patted him on the shoulder and headed off to the Slytherin changing rooms with my team.

After I was out of my flying robes, I headed out to find Sirius and Remus waiting for me, already talking to Harry. They beamed at me as I approached.

“That was some brilliant flying, Em.” Sirius said, pulling me in for a hug.

“James would never admit this, but you fly better than him, you both do.” Remus added, “Your parents would be proud.”

***

The majority of my year had their apparition test today, only a few of us were too young still. I wished my friends who would be taking it, good luck and then headed to Advanced Potions with Draco. I wasn’t surprised to find that only Harry and Ernie Macmillan were there.

We were halfway through the class when Professor Sprout came bustling into the room. “Mr. Macmillan, your parents are here, you are to leave with them, they do not feel this school is safe anymore.”

All of us stopped what we were doing and looked at her. Was this some kind of joke? I had known parents were panicking, but to show up at the school and take him- something must have been seriously wrong.

Ernie must have been thinking the same thing, for he asked, “What? Why? What’s happened?”

Sprout’s expression softened slightly and she said, “I don’t know, they’ll have to tell you themselves.” She looked to Slughorn and added, “Sorry for the interruption.”

“Oh it’s no trouble at all,” He assured her, but the worry in his expression said otherwise.

Slowly, Ernie packed his things and left the classroom. I wondered if I would ever see him again.

“What does that put us down to?” Draco asked in a whisper.

I did a quick tally in my head, “Thirty of us left now, I think. Oh hang on, I forgot about Crabbe. So that makes twenty-nine of us then.”

***

After the fiasco with Crabbe, I had completely forgotten about the two vials in my socks. I knew I had waited long enough to give them to Dumbledore. So, during my only free period of the week, I headed up to Dumbledore’s office, fingers crossed that he would be there and not off on some trip searching for horcruxes.

Sure enough, when I entered Dumbledore’s office, I found him pacing back and forth. Gellert was seated at Dumbledore’s desk, leaning back with his feet propped up on the edge of it. When he saw me, he hastily kicked off the side and stood, subtly moving between Dumbledore and I.

I waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry, I have no intentions of killing him.”

“How are you feeling?” Gellert asked with a gesture to my collarbone, despite the fact that the scar was concealed.

“Honestly? I’m fine, brilliant, actually, better than ever.” I said.

“Well, aren’t you resilient?” Gellert teased. I rolled my eyes. “Did you need something?”

“Quite the opposite.” I said, “As I recall, the pair of you have been in need of something for quite some time now.” With a flourish, I produced the balled up socks from my pocket.

Dumbledore looked at it with raised brows. “Well, as I say, one can never have enough socks.”

“Yeah right,” I said, rolling my eyes, “I really came all this way to give you some nasty old socks.” I began unfolding them. “It’s what’s in the socks.” I pulled out the two little vials and placed them on the desk before Gellert and Dumbledore. “You can keep the socks, god knows I don’t want them anymore, good for hiding things though.” I joked, trying to lighten the mood, but they didn’t laugh, didn’t even show any sign that they’d heard me speak at all.

“What is this?” Gellert breathed out, barely a whisper, barely anything more than exhaled sound.

“I think you know,” I muttered. “The green one gets applied most heavily to where the curse initially made contact, so your ring finger, and then put it on the rest of your hand and your arm. Drink the violet one.”

“You actually did it.” Dumbledore whispered.

“Don’t thank me yet,” I said dully, “Save that for when it works and you’re healed.”

Gellert snatched up the paste and began to dab it onto Dumbledore’s hand. In one gulp, he swallowed the other potion.

The effects were almost instantaneous, the deep purple bags under Dumbledore’s eyes began to lighten and fade. Some of his newer wrinkle lines smoothed over. That twinkle returned to his eyes and a sort of glow within him seemed to be reignited. Even more amazing was the paste, the curse began to leave him, starting at his shoulder and moving down towards the source until it was no longer dead and decrepit looking.

“How do you feel?” Asked Gellert, eying him cautiously.

“Better than I have in a long time.” Dumbledore smiled and turned to me. “Thank you.”

I shrugged, “I had help, all I did was deliver it.”

“Help?” Dumbledore asked, taken aback, “Who?”

I supposed it was time to come clear about Salazar. If I could get him to work together with Dumbledore and Gellert, there just might be a way for Harry to survive this.

“I’ve got something I need to show you, both of you.” I said, unsure if this was the right choice. Gellert walked over to a bookshelf in the corner and slid a little pot out from between some cobweb covered books. He tipped a sip of the contents into his mouth and swallowed with effort. Polyjuice potion. Sure enough, he began to morph into the man I had seen in the stands at that Quidditch match.

“Who is he?” I asked.

“I don’t know, just someone from a muggle village a few kilometers over.” Gellert said. “Shall we?”

I led them to the second floor girl’s bathroom and Dumbledore asked, “The chamber of secrets?”

“Yes, come on.” I spoke Parseltongue to open it up and led them down and through to the second chamber and into Sal’s house. It was very minimalistic today, sparsely furnished with a monochromatic gray color scheme. “Sal?” I called. It was eerie the way my voice echoed over and over.

I heard footfalls, too light and too many to be him. Just then, his cat came bounding into the room. I picked him up and he purred loudly, nudging my chin with his head. Moments later, he himself strode into the room. “Ah Emma, Albus, Gellert, I’ve been expecting you, though I must say, I did not expect you in this form, Gellert.”

It was a rare thing to see Dumbledore surprised, but it seemed that finding a one thousand year old man hidden in an underground chamber of his school did the trick.

“This is Salazar Slytherin, he has been helping this whole year, and last year. He is the one who gave me the potions to cure you, he’s been working on it for a while now.” I explained. The room was silent for a long time, aside from the cat’s loud purring. I checked my wristwatch, only then noticing how much time had passed. “I’ve got to go to Defense Against the Dark Arts now, so uh, try not to kill each other.”

I retreated to the girl’s bathroom at a sprint, only slowing to a walk when I emerged in the corridor. But I was still on the opposite side of the castle from my class, so I ended up being five minutes late. Snape was collecting the homework essay on dementors when I arrived, so I said into his mind, ‘Sorry, I’m late, I was with Gellert and Professor Dumbledore, lost track of time.’ Snape gave a small nod to indicate that he’d gotten the message and I hurried over to my seat. Draco gave me a questioning look, but I merely shook my head.

“Now, today is a practical lesson day. Can anyone guess what spell you’ll be practicing today?” Snape asked, walking to the front of the room and placing the essays on his desk.

I raised my hand and he nodded in my direction. “The patronus charm- Expecto patronum.” I answered.

“That is correct, and if memory serves, you and Mr. Potter were taught how to preform them by Professor Lupin. Both of you, please, come up here and demonstrate.” We stood, me a little sooner than Harry, and moved to the front of the class. “Before they go, does anyone know what you need to think of when casting this charm?”

I was surprised to see Neville raise his hand. “A happy memory, the happiest one you can come up with.”

Snape nodded, “That’s right. Okay, Miss. Evans, you first.”

“Expecto Patronum!” I waved my wand and out burst my fox. She pranced around the room, twisting and rolling through the air before settling herself on the desk in front of Draco and staring at him with her head tilted to the side.

“This is a corporeal patronus, meaning you can clearly see the form it takes, corporeal patronuses are stronger than noncorporeal ones. The longer you can keep your patronus out, the better it will be for you should you run into dementors. Okay, Mr. Potter, your turn.”

“Expecto Patronum!” I vanished my fox just as Harry’s stag appeared. It galloped in a few circles, high above our classmate’s heads before leaping into the wall and disappearing.

“Thank you, you can return to your seats. Now everyone take a few minutes to visualize some of your happiest memories, you may need to try different ones if your first attempt isn’t strong enough.” We all sat in silence for a few minutes as people tried to remember the best parts of themselves then Snape sent us on our way to practice.

Ron immediately produced his Jack Russell Terrier, it was the first time he’d been first to do anything in any class. Moments later, Hermione’s otter was soaring through the air. Then came Neville’s lion, opening its mouth in a silent roar. On and on they went until every single one of us had successfully produced a corporeal patronus.

“How do you all already know this?” Snape asked, thoroughly taken aback.

“We learned how to do them last year.” Dean said as his panther prowled in circles around his desk.

“That can’t be, I know Umbridge didn’t teach you this.” Snape said.

“Harry did,” I said, leaning forward, “Last year during our Dumbledore’s Army meetings.”

“You helped,” Harry said, looking at me.

Snape turned to Harry and asked, “Have you ever thought about becoming a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher once you graduate?”

Harry shook his head, “I’ve always wanted to be an auror.”

“Shame, you’d make a good teacher.” Snape said, and his expression turned a bit sad. I didn’t have to look into his mind to know what he was thinking. If only he could live that long. But now, with Dumbledore healed, Harry might even stand a chance. “Alright, let’s improvise here, since all of you can do it. Everyone cast your patronus at the same time and we’ll see who can keep theirs out for the longest amount of time. Stand up, stand up, when yours fades, you’ll sit down. On three now, one, two, three!”

The class chorused with, “Expecto Patronum!”

Several minutes passed before things started to happen. Roger Malone’s rhino faded first, and disappointed, he took his seat. Michael’s armadillo disappeared next, closely followed by Lisa Turpin’s camel and Lavender’s monkey. Next to go was Oliver Rivers’ grizzly bear. Theo’s shark and Seamus’s toucan went at exactly the same time.

Over the following ten minutes Susan’s penguin, Tracey’s horse, Blaise’s zebra, Justin’s rabbit, and Anthony’s lemur all vanished. Then Megan lost her walrus and Isobel, her giraffe.

That brought us down to the final ten. Then went Dean’s panther. Ron seemed to be struggling, a thin sheen of sweat coated his forehead and his Jack Russell Terrier had begun to flicker. So I was surprised when Pansy’s tiger was the next to fade. Then Daphne’s cheetah was gone and yet Ron was still hanging in there. And now Neville was starting to struggle, his lion beginning to lose its shape. Ron’s terrier disappeared a moment before Neville’s lion. Hermione lost her otter not long after.

Draco’s wolf tilted its head back in a soundless howl and popped out of existence. Beside me, he fell back into his seat. I looked at Harry, whose face was straining from the effort of keeping his stag solid and whole. My breathing was becoming uneven and my foxes movements had slowed, becoming sluggish. I looked around the room to see that Hannah Abbott didn’t appear to be having any trouble at all. Her ocelot continued to sail over our heads, springing about as though it cost her no energy to do so.

Down went my fox, collapsing in on itself until it was a mere noncorporeal ball of silver light, that blew away like dandelion fluff in a summer’s breeze. I resumed my seat and leaned back to watch Hannah and Harry fight for first.

I’d had no idea she was so good at this. Hannah had always been quiet and kept to herself, I didn’t really no much about her at all. She’d been in the DA last year and she’d given me a Hufflepuff tie so I could relay information from house to house, but aside from that, I hadn’t ever had much to do with her. Her best friends were Susan Bones and Megan Jones and the three of them were very private.

Harry groaned and gave in, letting his stag dissipate. Hannah waited a few seconds and then waved her wand, letting her ocelot evaporate. She took her seat without a word, but there was a small self satisfied smile on her face.

We spent the rest of the class having a discussion about whether Voldemort would try to recruit the dementors, from Azkaban, into his ranks and whether or not they would decide to join them. And we finished off with a quick ten minute lecture about hope and how the more hope dies, the more dementors there would be.

I had history of magic and then divination and then classes were over for the day. I headed back to my dormitory to check the map and she where Gellert and Albus were. They’d gone back to Dumbledore’s office, so I went to talk to them, I needed to see how their conversation with Sal had gone.

The moment I entered the office, Dumbledore asked me, “Have you ever apparated directly into Salazar’s quarters?”

I thought back to all of the times I’d visited Salazar. “Yes, but no. Kreacher apparated Draco and I into the chamber a few times, but I never apparated myself there. I think it’s a house elf thing, since they can apparate into and out of Hogwarts despite the wards too. It’s a good thing Voldemort doesn’t understand a thing about them.”

“Yes, house elves might have been a security risk, if not for the death eaters thinking of themselves as being higher than other people and creatures.” Dumbledore agreed. “Thank you, for giving me the cures. Salazar told me that you’d been debating it.”

“Don’t thank me, save my brother.”


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry, I know it has been quite a while since I’ve updated this. So, without further ado, here’s the chapter! Love you all! <3

There was a fine line between borrowing and stealing and I was walking it. I’d snuck into Harry’s dorm room while he was in the Great Hall eating dinner and taken his invisibility cloak. I considered it to be borrowing, since I intended to return it before he could even notice its absence.

Draco had started skipping meals this week, disappearing into the Room of Requirement for hours at a time, coming back scared, disappointed and jumpy. I hated that he wouldn’t tell me what was going on, so I had decided to figure it out for myself.

That’s how I ended up creeping through the castle on Draco’s heels beneath the invisibility cloak with my mind blocked off from him. I followed him into the Room of Hidden Things and through the winding alleyways of junk until he finally stopped in front of- Oh my god! How had I never realized this before? It was a vanishing cabinet. I’d walked right by it at least half a dozen times when I’d gotten lost in here.

I watched as Draco opened it and began to work. There was something wrong with it, it was broken. A few times he tested it to check for progress by transfiguring random objects into small animals. He’d put them in the cabinet and close the door. Every time, the animals came back dead.

Where was the vanishing cabinet’s sister? It could be in Malfoy Manor or in any of the other death eater’s houses. Wherever it was, it was a sure way for the death eaters to surpass the wards that protected Hogwarts. If all went well for them, they could sneak into the castle, kill Dumbledore and sneak back out before any alarms could be raised.

I imagined Draco mending the cabinet while I slept several floors below in our shared room. I pictured him notifying the death eaters that the passage was ready. I watched as they slipped through and cornered Dumbledore, saw as Draco murdered the headmaster. Glimpsed them as they disappeared through, with myself none the wiser. It made my skin crawl to think of it.

With my wandering thoughts, I had gotten too distracted and had stopped hiding my mind from Draco. He whipped around, sensing my nearness but unable to actually see me.

“Emma?” He asked as his eyes darted back and forth. “Emma? I know you’re there.”

My heart beat loudly in my ears, and I stood still as a statue, unsure of whether or not I should reveal myself. Finally, after several beats of my heart, I chose the latter, and pulled the cloak off of my head, folding it into my arms. I waved at him sheepishly. He just looked exasperated and pinched the bridge of his nose as he paced back and forth.

“I’m just going to go ahead and assume you know everything about the plan now. How long have you been here?”

“As long as you have.” I replied, settling myself onto the ground. “I think I’ve got most of it down, but do enlighten me. I think we both know that even if you don’t tell me, I’ll just figure it out for myself.”

He sighed and rocked back onto his heels, contemplating my point, before finally deciding to slid to the floor beside me. From his pocket, he pulled out a galleon, shiny and new. He dropped it into my open palm and I examined it as he spoke. “I’ve been using it to communicate with the death eaters outside the castle, Aunt Bella mainly, just like Hermione did with Dumbledore’s Army last year. She’s getting really impatient, thinks I’m taking too long.”

“Brilliant,” I said, and even I couldn’t tell whether or not I was being sarcastic.

“Once it’s fixed, the death eaters will come through from its matching one, in Borgin and Burkes, they’ll distract any Order members and teachers patrolling the castle while I sneak up to Dumbledore’s office and kill him.” Draco hesitated. “That’s the plan anyway.”

“And if you don’t do this, he’ll kill your parents?” I asked, despite already knowing the answer.

“And you.” He confirmed, resting his head on my shoulder. I leaned into him, my head against his.

“Alright, how about this, we go and talk to Dumbledore, he can protect your mum and dad with the order.” I suggested, knowing full well how pointless it was.

“Like he protected your parents?” Draco retorted, then a moment later, “I’m sorry, that wasn’t nice, I’m just stressed.”

“Me too, but Draco, you can’t just carry out the plan, you can’t kill him.” Silently, I added to myself, Not after we’ve just saved him.

“I don’t know what else to do.” He whispered. I knew there would be no convincing him to go to Dumbledore, he wouldn’t put his family at risk, not for anything. So, I just sat there with him in the silence for a while.

“Draco, you’ve got to come eat something.” For a long moment, I thought he was going to protest, but then he nodded and stood, pulling me to my feet with him. “You go on down, I’ll meet you there, I’ve just got to return this before Harry notices that it’s gone.” I said, holding up the cloak of invisibility.

When we left the Room of Hidden Things, I headed to the Gryffindor’s tower, while Draco went in the opposite direction, down to the Great Hall. I snuck back into Harry’s dormitory room, thinking I was in the clear since it and the common room had both been deserted. But, when I went to leave, after stashing away Harry’s cloak in its original spot, I ran straight into Seamus and Dean.

They spluttered, trying to come up with some excuse for why they were there. I was confused, this was their dormitory after all, but then I saw that their fingers were intertwined, certainly not in a ‘just friends’ sort of way.

“I didn’t see you, you didn’t see me,” I whispered, “Got it?”

The pair of them nodded, and Seamus looked so embarrassed that I doubted he even realized I didn’t belong to his house. Before it could dawn on them, I dashed out of there and hurried down to the Great Hall to eat with Draco.

***

Four days later, I thought I had been making great progress with Draco. He had stopped skipping meals and he was hardly ever absent. From what I could figure, he had only gone to the Room of Hidden Things once- maybe twice since I had followed him.

We were in the Great Hall for dinner, it was late, so a little under half of the remaining student body was still here. I had opted to have spaghetti with broccoli and loaded mashed potatoes, while Draco had selected to have ham and corn on the cob. Daphne had long since finished eating, but she refused to leave until we finished eating. She’d been in a gossipy mood all day and hadn’t stopped talking for more than a minute.

Currently, she was enlightening Draco and I on a seventh year Hufflepuff couple that had been caught doing the deed in one of Filch’s broom closets on the sixth floor during second period.

“I heard that a third year found them when he was looking for a place to hide from Goyle.”

“I’m so glad to hear that Goyle is still finding ways to torment the younger students without Crabbe,” I drawled, shooting Goyle a glare, which he returned with a ferocity he was only capable of in public. He’d been scared of me ever since the duel that had resulted in his best- and only- friend being arrested and sent to Azkaban. He only had the courage to glare now was because he knew that I wouldn’t attack him here, in front of the entire staff. When we were back in the Slytherin common room, he wasn’t nearly so brave.

“Yeah well, he’s been going after more and more muggleborns,” Daphne said, “I think he’s trying to get his revenge on you, without actually having to, you know, confront you. I mean, we all know how that would end.”

I scoffed, “I wish he would just come after me, that would make everything a whole lot more-” Suddenly, a sense of foreboding swept over me and I dropped off mid sentence. My fork clattered back down to my plate, but I was so focused that I didn’t even notice. I feel something, but it was faint, so very faint.

“Emma, what is it?” Draco asked, his face lined with worry.

“Something... Something’s wrong...” I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to pinpoint it. Abruptly, I stood up, as my mind latched onto the threat. Draco froze and from his expression, I knew he sensed it too. I knew he could feel her mind, though she was skilled at Occlumency, so skilled that from this distance, I couldn’t read her actual thoughts, couldn’t sort out her intentions for being here. If I could get closer, I’d be able to break through her defenses, but not from here.

Bellatrix Lestrange, was in the Forbidden Forest, just outside the castle’s protective enchantments, moving back and forth. That was all I could tell.

“What’s happening?” Daphne asked, looking about, trying to see what the problem was.

“Bellatrix is here.” I hissed, then louder, “Bellatrix is here.” I stepped back from the bench and moved towards the exit, intent on reaching her.

Draco grabbed my arm, pulling me back, “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to kill her,” I ground out.

“Emma, you can’t, she’s powerful and dangerous, and you could die.” Draco protested.

“Why’s she here?” Daphne asked, her voice shaky. She looked around the Great Hall and I knew she was looking for her sisters. Alyssa was at the Hufflepuff table, laughing with her friends, Astoria was sitting at the Gryffindor table, her head on Neville’s shoulder, and Tracey was back in the Slytherin common room. I followed her lead and sought out Harry, only to find he was looking directly at me. Come to notice it, a lot of people were looking at Draco and I.

“I don’t know,” I said, returning my focus to her and Draco, “But she hasn’t figured out how to get inside the barrier yet, so we’re safe... for the moment.”

“You have to tell Dumbledore.” She said urgently. I looked to Draco, who didn’t object, and his hand dropped from my arm, I took that as agreement or at the least resignation to the necessity of it.

I did my best to look calm as I strode up to the staff dining table. Several of them had already been watching Draco and I, so by the time I reached them, nearly everyone’s attention was on me. I kept my voice clear and even as I said, “Bellatrix Lestrange is currently in the Forbidden Forest, just beyond Hagrid’s house, right on the other side of the barrier protecting this school.”

I looked straight at Dumbledore as I said the words, but McGonagall was the first to respond. “How can you possibly know that?” She asked, startled. Her voice wasn’t doubtful or accusatory, just curious. If I said Bellatrix was there, she believed be, despite how crazy it seemed.

“I can feel it,” I answered. I knew the explanation was poor, but there wasn’t the time. At this very moment Bellatrix could be attempting to breach the boundary and enter the castle. And if she went to the shrieking shack, she could surpass the protection and then there would be nothing to stop her from getting in.

Luckily, Dumbledore recognized the graveness of the situation and sprung to action. “Minerva, alert the ministry that aurors need to be sent to the forest, a patronus to Kingsley would be best. Horace, send one to Madam Rosmerta so she can warn the Hogsmeade shopkeeper and residents. Severus, help Filch secure the castle.”

“I’ve got it.” I interjected. ‘ _Sal, there is a death eater in the forest, can you seal all entrances to the castle?_ ’

In response, the slam of the front doors echoed through the hall. Moments later, shutters began to close over each of the windows in the hall, I could only assume they were doing the same throughout the rest of the castle.

‘ _Thanks_.’ I said into Salazar’s mind, grateful that he could control the castle.

At this point, ever single student’s attention was upon us, which was to our benefit as Dumbledore stood and began to speak. “We have reason to believe a death eater, Bellatrix Lestrange, is outside the castle at this very moment. Protection charms I have in place are prohibiting her from entering the grounds, but she is skilled and may be able to get around them with time. I would ask that you all return to your common rooms at this time, any prefects who are still here, please lead those in your house back.”

Everyone stood and began to push their way out of the Great Hall, with prefects frantically trying to maintain any semblance of order, though they weren’t having very much success. I went to join them, but Dumbledore stopped me. “Emma, I think it would be best if you stayed here, since you can track her location and tell us if she finds a way past.” I nodded and leaned against their table.

“Minerva, Filius, Severus, Pomona, please go to your respective common rooms and check and see if everyone is there. The rest of you, patrol the castle, look for any students who may be out and about.” Dumbledore instructed and then all of the teachers were gone, filing after the students. Dumbledore tapped his throat with the tip of his wand and then his voice was being magically magnified throughout the castle, “Students, we are going into an emergency lockdown due to a death eater’s presence on our grounds, everyone must go back to their designated common rooms immediately and stay their until otherwise instructed.”

I strode over to a portrait that hung in the Great Hall behind the staff table and shooed away its inhabitant. “Speculator vultus!” I hissed and the empty portrait rippled and morphed to show dark trees at the edge of the forest. And there, between them, stood a woman, with long curly dark hair, pale skin and a cruel, twisted smile.

She was pacing back and forth, hissing under her breath, “Oh Draco, you’re taking too long, ignoring my messages, I knew you’d lose your nerve.” She made a tsking sound with her tongue and crept closer to where the barrier no doubt laid, invisible.She stretched her hand out into the empty air, only to jerk it back with an animal like growl. “Perhaps I should just find another way in, kill the old man myself and be done with it.” Just then, her head snapped to the side as she looked somewhere to her left, off of the paintings frame.

“That’ll be the aurors,” I commented idly.

Sure enough, moments later, several aurors came into view, wands raised and pointed straight at her heart. Her grin never faltered. “Avada Kedavra!” She cursed and the nearest auror was dead, it happened so fast that none of the others had any time to do anything before he went down. I flinched back from the sight, I had just seen someone die. That was war, I thought to myself, I needed to get used to it.

Bellatrix ducked behind a nearby tree to avoid the spells cast by the remaining aurors. She leaned out the other side and shot another volley of killing curses, most of them missed, but two found their marks, dropping a pair of aurors that looked like they could be brother and sister with the same dark eyes and blonde hair.

“That’s enough of that,” Dumbledore said gently, “Go on back to your common room.”

“I’m fine,” I got out, but my voice wavered.

“Emma go on back, if you’d like, you can go to the Gryffindor common room, with your brother, tell Minerva I gave you permission.”

A lump had found its way to my throat, so I merely nodded and took off. As an afterthought, I let Draco know that I would be in the Gryffindor common room for the night to keep him from worrying about me.

‘ _Good_ ,’ He replied into my mind, ‘ _If Bellatrix gets in, she won’t expect you to be there, she won’t think to look there._ ’

That hadn’t been a factor in my decision and it almost made me turn around. I didn’t want her to get into the castle and get into the Slytherin common room and hurt the other Slytherin’s in an attempt to get to me. But Salazar wouldn’t let her get inside, and if she, she wouldn’t make it all the way to the Slytherin common room. She might be powerful, but Salazar- with his ability to control the entire castle- was stronger.

McGonagall gave me a quizzical look when I burst into the Gryffindor common room. Before she could question my presence, I said, “Dumbledore gave me permission.”

She nodded, so I moved to where Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Lavender were sitting. I whispered to them, “The aurors arrived, they’re pushing her back, away from the castle, but three are already dead, maybe more now.”

Ginny wrapped an arm around me and asked, “What’s she doing here, is she after Harry?”

I shrugged, “I think she’s after Dumbledore, but Draco thinks she’s after me because I refused to join up and I didn’t die when I was supposed to.”

Hermione gave me a look, but didn’t say anything. “How did you know she was there?” Ron asked.

“I felt her mind, it contrasts with everyone else’s because of how horrible she is.” I said, “I can’t feel it now though, she’s too far away.”

“Everyone try to go to sleep if you can, do not worry about finishing any last minute homework, classes will most likely be canceled tomorrow.” McGonagall said, and she looked so tired, I felt bad for her. She would likely have a long night ahead of her. She gave us all a long look before climbing out the portrait hole.

Most of the younger students, scared out of their minds, scurried off to their common rooms, but we stayed where we were. Ginny fell asleep on the end of the couch, her head in her hand. Lavender and Ron fell asleep a bit later, leaning against each other in the big armchair that was beside our couch. Harry was the next to pass out, in his own armchair. And last to drift into unconsciousness was Hermione and I, sharing the couch with Ginny.

It was a hard night, with me waking up every few hours when Bellatrix would come back into my detection range, each time followed by less and less aurors. The others began to wake up around eight thirty, when reinforcements arrived and Bellatrix was driven away once more.

The house elves made our breakfast appear directly in the common room at nine and then at one lunch came. It was dinner time before Dumbledore’s voice came reverberating through the castle. “Bellatrix is no longer here, it is safe to come to the Great Hall for dinner. She was not apprehended, but the aurors did drive her away. Throughout the night, she killed seventeen of them.”

_Seventeen_. In one night, she had singlehandedly managed to kill seventeen skilled and trained aurors. If she could do all of that on her own, then we were in trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! Only five more chapters in this book! And then we will be onto my rendition of Deathly Hallows! Thank you to everybody who has been leaving kudos and comments, keep it up!


	20. For the Greater Good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy <3

Classes returned to normal the next day and everything seemed fine. That was until the letters started coming in. Dozens and dozens of letters from worried parents, saying they would be coming to pick up their children that weekend. Sophie Roper’s dad strode straight into the Great Hall and pulled her out after she had refused to meet her parents in Hogsmeade.

Draco’s habits had become worse than ever before. He stopped showing up to meals all together, half of the time he was late to his classes and he was hardly even in then common room or our shared dormitory.

I’d seen his coin, that night after Bellatrix had finally left the school.

Your time is running out.

Whether it was a threat or a warning, the meaning was the same. If he waited to fix the cabinet, Voldemort would kill his parents and then come after me. A part of me hoped that Bellatrix would come to her senses and protect her sister, but she had been quick to forget Andromeda, and she’d killed Tonks, so the chances of her doing such a thing were next to none.

I sighed and started in on my muggle studies notes along with Draco’s. If he stuck to his current pattern, then he’d arrive around ten minutes into the class, thank me for starting his notes for him and then not talk the entire rest of the class. Then when it would end, he’d disappear again. I didn’t have the heart to stop him, after all, I knew what it was like to be without parents.

Dumbledore was away, likely looking for another horcrux. I hoped he would return soon so I could tell him about the vanishing cabinet. I thought that if he knew, he might finally have enough information to confront Draco about it himself.

But, not even McGonagall knew when he’d be back, nor did Snape. And I couldn’t ask Gellert because- much to my surprise- he had gone with Dumbledore this time.

We were learning about the muggle iron today, so class was rather dull and notes quickly descended into something barely comprehensible. It turned out not to matter, as Draco never showed up. At the end of class, when we had to partner up and attempt to iron an item of clothing ourselves, I ended up partners with Megan Jones. She was nice, but not altogether very interesting.

Daphne picked me up just when I was leaving, bubbling with news. She was so excited that I was momentarily pushed out of my bad mood.

“Well go on then,” I prodded, “I just know you are bursting with something to tell me.”

“Okay so, I was in the library right,” She began, “Because I had a free period just now and I thought I might study up on rare plants that can heal cursed wounds for that Herbology essay Professor Sprout mentioned would be assigned next week. And Harry was in the library with Ron and Lavender, have you seen- she’s cut her hair? Anyway, so she and Ron went off into the shelves to make out or something, and then it was just Harry. And I went over and asked him if he’d finished the Defense Against the Dark Arts Analysis Essay that’s due tomorrow and he said yes, he had, and we got to talking about it and before I knew it, it’d been the whole hour and it was time to go for lunch.”

“Harry talked to you the entire period?” I asked, shocked since he had never outwardly expressed any interest in Daphne to me, then again, we didn’t really talk about who we fancied with each other. She nodded excitedly. Then something else dawned on me, and skeptically, I asked, “Hang on, Ron and Lavender were making out in the bookshelves that whole time?”

“Well...” Daphne said, and her face turned a few shades redder, “I think they were doing a little bit more than making out.”

I snorted and we hurried down to lunch, talking and laughing about Ron and Lavender’s poor choice of location. Blaise and Pansy were already there when we arrived, as was Theo. “Where’s Tracey?” Daphne asked when we sat down.

Pansy shrugged, “I don’t know, she disappeared real quick after Arithmancy today, and I know she had the last period free.”

Daphne shrugged, with an attempt at nonchalance, though it was clear she was a little bit worried. “She’ll turn up.”

And turn up she did, about a half hour later, slightly disheveled with her robes a tad rumpled, but she seemed happy and fine.

“Where were you?” Daphne asked angrily.

Tracey glared at her, immediately going onto the defensive, and spat, “I didn’t sleep well last night so I took a nap. Why?”

“Because I didn’t know where you were!” Daphne shouted.

“I’m your sister, Daph, not your kid, you don’t need to know where I am at all hours of the day.” Tracey retorted, her voice rising to match Daphne’s. I thought they were going to break out into a full on shouting match, but they merely crossed their arms and turned away from each other.

***

Every night I checked the Marauders’ map to see if Dumbledore and Gellert had returned from their trip yet, but still nothing. I felt like there was a ticking time bomb in the castle, due to explode at any given moment and there was nothing I could do to stop it- short of getting my boyfriend arrested and locked up in Azkaban for the rest of his life.

Dumbledore was the only one who could help and he wasn’t here.

Finally, I broke down and wrote him a letter, short and to the point, without actually mentioning anything damning in case it fell into the wrong hands.

Dear Dumbledore,

Please come back as soon as you can, there has been a development, I’ve found something out that I did not previously know. Your insight is most needed, I don’t know what to do from here on out.

Hope you’re well,

Emma

There, I could have been talking about anything in that. If the letter was intercepted, the thief would gain nothing from it, aside from the knowledge that Dumbledore was away from the castle, which was known commonly enough.

I tied it and sent it off with Tambor, wishing her the best of luck and reminding her to take breaks and not merely fly until she dropped- something she had quite the tendency to do. I hadn’t the slightest idea whether or not she would actually be able to find him, but it was worth a try.

He was certainly able to conceal himself when he wanted to be, as was Gellert. Sometimes I wondered which of them was more skillful. Gellert of course had not been trusted with a wand, but he was still powerful without one.

I sighed and padded over to the bed, knowing I would spend another night alone. Hopefully the blissful oblivion of sleep would sweep me away.

I regretted that thought as soon as my dreams started. They weren’t nightmares, they weren’t even bad dreams, they were just long and seemingly endless.

First I was a bird, soaring through the sky, gliding in and out of dark clouds. It felt pleasant, but after a few hours grew redundant. It wasn’t until the bird let out a call that I realized it was Tambor. She seemed as though she knew where she was going, though I could never guess how. And a part of me wondered, was I actually seeing what she was, or was this merely a dream brought on by my anxieties. Abruptly, it ended.

Then my mind latched onto a house elf working in the kitchens, cleaning dishes and scurrying around in search of more soap, until he gave up looking and snapped, making more instantly appear.

Then I was some creature in Hagrid’s hut, small and insect like, though I couldn’t figure what the thing was.

I didn’t come from sleep easy, but rather I jolted awake all at once. It was barely four in the morning, but already I could feel that something was wrong.

I slid out of the bed and sure enough, Draco wasn’t there. Just to be safe, I checked in the bathroom- no luck. He wasn’t in the corridors either, so I snuck through the castle until I reached the Room of Hidden Things, and nearly ran right into him as he was coming out.

“Emma!” He gasped, startled, and took a step back. “What are you doing here? It’s late.”

“Actually it’s early,” I corrected. “And you fixed it, didn’t you?”

There was no point in him denying it, and he didn’t try to. He simply gave a small jerk of his head, and wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“You don’t have to tell them,” I tried.

“We’ve been over this.” He started.

“I know,” I said with a mundane finality that shut down the argument before it could even begin. “Let one of them do it though, please, don’t be a killer Draco, not like this, not at all if you can help it. I know this is war, but this isn’t the moment for anyone to die.”

“I won’t make a promise that I can’t keep,” He said with another shake of his head, “But I’ll try to have one of them end it. And in any case, Dumbledore isn’t back yet, so it’s a nonissue.”

“There’s nothing left for you to do then,” I said, “Spend the day with me? It’s been a while.”

“I-” He started and I was ready for the no, the protests about how he needed to rest or prepare or plan, but instead he said, “Yeah, okay.”

We got the day together, classes and meals and homework. It was nice, but always there was that looming knowledge that it wouldn’t last. My heart dropped into my throat that night, after my shower, when we were getting ready for bed and I saw Dumbledore and Gellert’s names drifting around Dumbledore’s office. Snape was there too, pacing back and forth, rather than in the leisurely circles the other two were favoring. Casually, I tucked the map away, hoping Draco hadn’t caught a glimpse of it, hadn’t put the pieces together, but he was more observant than I gave him credit for.

“Oh!” I exclaimed. “I’ve just forgotten, I need to ask Daphne if she was able to get Harry alone again, they had a real long chat a few days ago.” It wasn’t a lie, not a full one anyway.

He laughed, and if I hadn’t known him, it would have almost come off as normal. But I did know him, well enough to hear how forced it sounded. He knew I was lying. “I ship it.” Was all he said.

So I went, but rather than turning up to the girl’s dormitories, I headed out of the Slytherin common room altogether and went to meet Dumbledore and Gellert, whether they’d received my letter or not, it didn’t matter, they were here now.

“How long have you been back?” I asked after greeting the pair of them and offering Snape a brief nod.

“Only a few hours, your owl just delivered the letter here, about twenty minutes ago.” Gellert said as he siphoned some spilled ink from a page of the book he’d been reading.

“I was planning on giving you the night and then having Severus send you here in the morning if you hadn’t turned up by then.” Dumbledore said. “Very few know that I’m back. Surely our friend downstairs knows, I’ve told the staff, but other than that, no one, aside of a few ghosts perhaps.”

“I’m nearly positive Draco knows.” I said, “The map was opened and I think he saw before I hid it, and even if he didn’t see your names specifically, me hiding it was a dead giveaway. And he’s finished what he was trying to do, he was just waiting for you to return. Now that you have... I think he’s going to carry out the plan tonight.”

“Have you managed to figure out what exactly the plan is?” Gellert asked.

I explained to them about the Room of Requirement and its Room of Hidden Things and the vanishing cabinet tucked within.

“That doesn’t leave us with a lot of time.” Gellert said once I’d finished.

“I’ll call in a few extra Order members to patrol the castle tonight,” Dumbledore said, “But there’s work to be done, Harry will be here in thirty minutes and then we will be going out to retrieve a horcrux- that is if Gellert and I have correctly located it.”

“Tonight?” I asked, incredulous. “Can’t it wait?”

“As a matter of fact, you have just laid out a rather in depth plan for my execution, and should it succeed, tonight will be my last night, in which case, no, I am afraid it cannot wait.” Dumbledore said all of this with no deviation from his usual calm tone, quite at odds with the words coming from his mouth.

“You can’t die tonight, there are so many reasons, we can’t let it happen.” I argued. “Harry needs you. You know better than anyone where the other horcruxes might be. This school needs you. And we’ve only just saved you from that curse.”

Dumbledore sighed, “Yes, I would rather I didn’t die tonight either.” He checked his watch, “We now have twenty seven minutes to make a plan. Any ideas?”

He asked it like he was a teacher posing a difficult problem to his students, not asking someone to find a way to save his life.

His ease at the whole situation had a calming effect on the room, and for a moment, I was able to think. In that moment the most horrible, terrible, disgusting idea took root in my mind, clawed its way in deep, immovable and unavoidable. I knew it would work, I knew we could pull it off, we had everything we needed to do it but...

My mouth moved in spite of the dreadful betrayal, and my lips formed the words evenly, as I somehow managed to ignore the foul taste they left in my mouth.

I hated myself for the idea, hated every bit of it. But in every war, there were necessary sacrifices to be made. This would just have to be one of them.

Gellert agreed rather immediately, and I reminded myself that he was not new to difficult choices. For the greater good rang in my ears. Dumbledore took convincing from both of us, and I hated the fact that I even tried to justify it. But Dumbledore had learned to accept this sort of thing too, so eventually he did. Snape took the longest of them all and I couldn’t blame him, after all, if I had been in his spot, I didn’t think I would have been able to do what we were asking of him.

Finally, he agreed, though he still wasn’t keen on the idea.

Two minutes before Harry was set to arrive, I left, regret and horror at what I had suggested mingling for control in my gut.

But the plan was there, fully formed and ready for action.

I could only hope it wouldn’t come to that.

I made it back to our dormitory without a hitch and collapsed into the bed, not even bothering to finish getting ready for sleep.

If Draco had believed that I had actually visited Daphne, he would have asked me whether or not she had managed to talk to Harry again. But he knew I hadn’t seen her so he left it alone. He wasn’t one to take pride in catching me in my lies.

“Promise me, whatever happens, you’ll still be the same person tomorrow.” I mumbled in my half asleep daze, a little while later. The guilt was so strong in me that I had no feeling left to worry about any danger Harry might be in with fetching a horcrux.

And as exhaustion swept over me, unconsciousness pulled me under, so quick that I never got to hear Draco’s answer.


End file.
